CELEX: C1999/352/04
Language: en
Date: 1999-12-04 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 7 September 1999 in Case C-61/98 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Tariefcommissie): De Haan Beheer BV v Inspecteur der Invoerrechten en Accijnzen te Rotterdam (Customs duties - External transit - Fraud - Incurrence and recovery of a customs debt)

C 352/2                  EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                          4.12.1999
basis of assessment (OJ 1977 L 145, p. 1) — the Court,                     of: J.-P. Puissochet, (Rapporteur), President of the Chamber,
composed of: G.C. Rodrı́guez Iglesias, President, P.J.G. Kapteyn,          J.C. Moitinho de Almeida, C. Gulmann, D.A.O. Edward and
G. Hirsch (Rapporteur) and P. Jann (Presidents of Chambers),               M. Wathelet, Judges; A. La Pergola, Advocate General; R. Grass,
J.C. Moitinho de Almeida, J.L. Murray, D.A.O. Edward, H. Rag-              Registrar, has given a judgment on 7 September 1999, in
nemalm and R. Schintgen, Judges, G. Cosmas, Advocate Gen-                  which it has ruled:
eral; L. Hewlett, Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a
judgment on 7 September 1999, in which it has ruled:                       The concept of existing legislation, within the meaning of Article 70
                                                                           of the Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Republic of
Article 13A(1) of the Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of                Austria, the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden and
17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member                 the adjustments to the Treaties on which the European Union is
States relating to turnover taxes — Common system of value added           founded, covers provisions adopted after the date of accession which
tax: uniform basis of assessment is to be interpreted as meaning that      are in substance identical to the legislation previously in force or
the terms ‘other duly recognised establishments of a similar nature’       limited to reducing or eliminating an obstacle to the exercise of
and ‘other organisations recognised as charitable by the Member            Community rights and freedoms in the earlier legislation.
State concerned’, which appear in subparagraphs (b) and (g) of that
provision respectively, do not exclude from that exemption natural
persons running a business.                                                (1) OJ C 370 of 6.12.1997.
(1) OJ C 228 of 26.7.1997.
                                                                                             JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                                                                                                      (First Chamber)
                  JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                                                                                                   of 7 September 1999
                           (Fifth Chamber)
                                                                           in Case C-61/98 (reference for a preliminary ruling from
                       of 7 September 1999                                 the Tariefcommissie): De Haan Beheer BV v Inspecteur
                                                                                  der Invoerrechten en Accijnzen te Rotterdam (1)
in Case C-355/97: (reference for a preliminary ruling from
the Oberster Gerichtshof): Landesgrundverkehrsreferent                     (Customs duties — External transit — Fraud — Incurrence
der Tiroler Landesregierung v Beck Liegenschaftsverwal-                                      and recovery of a customs debt)
    tungsgesellschaft mbH, Bergdorf Wohnbau GmbH (1)
                                                                                                      (1999/C 352/04)
(Article 70 of the Act of Accession of Austria — Secondary
residences — Procedure relating to the acquisition of immov-
able property in the Tyrol — Concept of ’existing legislation’)                                 (Language of the case: Dutch)
                           (1999/C 352/03)
                                                                           (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
                                                                                               in the European Court Reports)
                    (Language of the case: German)
                                                                           In Case C-61/98: Reference to the Court under Article 177 of
                                                                           the EC Treaty (now Article 234 EC) from the Tariefcommissie
                                                                           (Netherlands) for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published     pending before that court between De Haan Beheer BV and
                    in the European Court Reports)                         Inspecteur der Invoerrechten en Accijnzen te Rotterdam on
                                                                           the interpretation of Community law relating to the incurrence
In Case C-355/97: Reference to the Court under Article 177 of              and recovery of a customs debt — the Court (Fifth Chamber),
the EC Treaty (now Article 234 EC) by the Oberster Gerichtshof             composed of: J.-P. Puissochet, President of the Chamber,
(Austria) for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending              J.C. Moitinho de Almeida, C. Gulmann, D.A.O. Edward and
before that court between Landesgrundverkehrsreferent der                  M. Wathelet, (Rapporteur), Judges; F.G. Jacobs, Advocate Gen-
Tiroler Landesregierung and Beck Liegenschaftsverwaltungsge-               eral; L. Hewlett, Administrator for the Registrar, has given a
sellschaft mbH, Bergdorf Wohnbau GmbH, in liquidation,                     judgment on 7 September 1999, in which it has ruled:
(Intervener, Karl Hacker) — on the interpretation of Article 70
of the Act concerning the conditions of accession of the                   1. Community law does not impose on customs authorities which
Republic of Austria, the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom                    have been informed of a possible fraud in connection with
of Sweden and the adjustments to the Treaties on which the                      external transit arrangements any obligation to warn a principal
European Union is founded (OJ 1994 C 241, p. 21, and OJ                         that he could incur liability for customs duty as a result of the
1995 L 1, p. 1) — the Court (Fifth Chamber), composed                           fraud, even where he has acted in good faith.
 ---pagebreak--- 4.12.1999                 EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                            C 352/3
2. The demands of an investigation conducted by the national                1. Declares that, by failing to take the measures necessary to
     authorities may, in the absence of any deception or negligence on          give priority to the processing of waste oils by regeneration,
     the part of the person liable, and where that person has not been          notwithstanding that technical, economic and organisational
     informed that the investigation is being carried out, constitute a         constraints so allowed, the Federal Republic of Germany has
     special situation within the meaning of Article 13(1) of Council           failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 3(1) of Council
     Regulation (EEC) 1430/79 of 3 July 1979 on the repayment                   Directive 75/439/EEC of 16 June 1975 on the disposal of
     or remission of import or export duties, as amended by Council             waste oils, as amended by Council Directive 87/101/EEC of
     Regulation (EEC) No 3069/86 of 7 October 1986, where the                   22 December 1986;
     fact that the national authorities have, in the interests of the
     investigation, deliberately allowed offences or irregularities to be   2. Orders the Federal Republic of Germany to pay the costs.
     committed, thus causing the principal to incur a customs debt,
     places the principal in an exceptional situation in comparison
     with other operators engaged in the same business.                     (1) OJ C 142 of 10.5.1997.
3. Commission Decision C(98) 372 of 18 February 1998 is
     invalid.
(1) OJ C 113 of 11.4.1998.
                                                                                             JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                                                                                                     (Sixth Chamber)
                   JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                                                                                                  of 9 September 1999
                            (Fifth Chamber)
                                                                            in Case C-217/97: Commission of the European Communi-
                        of 9 September 1999                                             ties v Federal Republic of Germany(1)
in Case C-102/97 Commission of the European Communi-
              ties v Federal Republic of Germany(1)                         (Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Directive
                                                                            90/313/EEC — Freedom of access to information on the
                                                                            environment — Definition of public authorities — Exclusion
(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Directive                of the courts, criminal prosecution authorities and disciplin-
87/101/EEC — Disposal of waste oils — Transposition of                      ary authorities — Partial communication of information —
                              the directive)                                Exclusion of the right to information during administrative
                                                                            proceedings — Amount of charges and mode of collecting
                            (1999/C 352/05)                                                                them)
                     (Language of the case: German)                                                   (1999/C 352/06)
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published                         (Language of the case: German)
                     in the European Court Reports)
In Case C-102/97: Commission of the European Communities                    (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
(Agent: Götz zur Hausen) v Federal Republic of Germany                                         in the European Court Reports)
(Agents: initially Ernst Röder and Bernd Kloke, and, sub-
sequently, Ernst Röder and Claus-Dieter Quassowski) —
Application for a declaration that, by failing to give priority to          In Case C-217/97: Commission of the European Communities
the recycling, rather than the thermal processing, of waste oils,           (Agent: Götz zur Hausen) v Federal Republic of Germany
notwithstanding that such processing is not precluded by any                (Agent: Ernst Röder, assisted by Dieter Sellner) — application
economic, technical or organisational constraints, the Federal              for a declaration that the Federal Republic of Germany
Republic of Germany has failed to fulfil its obligations under              has failed to fulfil its obligations under Council Directive
Article 3(1) of Council Directive 75/439/EEC of 16 June 1975                90/313/EEC of 7 June 1990 on the freedom of access to
on the disposal of waste oils (OJ 1975 L 194, p. 23), as                    information on the environment (OJ 1990 L 158, p. 56), in
amended by Council Directive 87/101/EEC of 22 December                      particular Article 2(b), Article 3(2), third indent of the first
1986 (OJ 1987 L 42, p. 43) — the Court (Fifth Chamber),                     subparagraph and second subparagraph, and Article 5 thereof
composed of: J.-P. Puissochet, President of the Chamber,                    — the Court (Sixth Chamber), composed of: P.J.G. Kapteyn,
P. Jann, J.C. Moitinho de Almeida, L. Sevón (Rapporteur) and               President of the Chamber, G. Hirsch and R. Schintgen (Rappor-
M. Wathelet, Judges, N. Fennelly, Advocate General; D. Louter-              teur), Judges; N. Fennelly, Advocate General; L. Hewlett, Princi-
man-Hubeau, Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, has                 pal Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on
given a judgment on 9 September 1999, in which it:                          9 September 1999, in which it held: