CELEX: C1998/166/47
Language: en
Date: 1998-05-30 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 3 April 1998 by VTech Electronics (UK) plc against the Commission of the European Communities (Case T-56/98)

30.5.98              EN                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                     C 166/19
infringement of Article 133(1) of the Treaty, infringement         essential procedural requirements and infringement of the
of Article 132(1) of the Treaty in conjunction with                Treaty or of rules for the implementation thereof and/or
Article 102 of the OCT decision, infringement of                   breach of general principles of Community law, in
Article XIII of GATT 1994 and of the WTO Agreement                 particular: illegality of Article 101(1) of the OCT decision,
on import licensing procedures, infringement of                    illegality of the origin rules contained in Title I of Annex II
Article 228(7) of the Treaty and breach of the principle of        to the OCT decision, illegality of the amending decision
proportionality.                                                   on which the sugar implementation regulation is based,
                                                                   the fact that the sugar implementation regulation is ultra
                                                                   vires, infringement of Article 234 of the OCT decision,
                                                                   infringement of Article 133(1) of the Treaty, infringement
                                                                   of Article 132(1) of the Treaty in conjunction with
                                                                   Article 102 of the OCT decision, infringement of
                                                                   Article XIII of GATT 1994 and of the WTO Agreement
Action brought on 1 April 1998 by Aruba against the                on import licensing procedures, infringement of
         Commission of the European Communities                    Article 228(7) of the Treaty and breach of the principle of
                       (Case T-54/98)                              proportionality.
                        (98/C 166/46)
                (Language of the case: Dutch)
An action against the Commission of the European                   Action brought on 3 April 1998 by VTech Electronics
Communities was brought before the Court of First                        (UK) plc against the Commission of the European
Instance of the European Communities on 1 April 1998                                         Communities
by Aruba, represented by P. Bos and M. Slotboom, of the
                                                                                           (Case T-56/98)
Rotterdam Bar, with an address for service in Luxembourg
at the Chambers of M. Loesch, 11 Rue Goethe.                                                (98/C 166/47)
The applicant claims that the Court should:                                        (Language of the case: English)
Ð annul Commission Regulation (EC) No 2553/97 of                   An action against the Commission of the European
     17 December 1997 on rules for issuing import licences         Communities was brought before the Court of First
     for certain products covered by CN codes 1701, 1702,          Instance of the European Communities on 3 April 1998
     1703 and 1704 and qualifying as ACP/OCT                       by VTech Electronics (UK) plc, represented by David
     originating products (OJ L 349 of 19.12.1997, p. 26);         Milne and Rupert Baldry, with an address for service in
                                                                   Luxembourg at the offices of Wilson Associates, 9, Avenue
                                                                   Guillaume.
Ð order the Commission to pay the costs.
                                                                   The applicant claims that the Court should:
Pleas in law and main arguments:
The applicant seeks annulment of the sugar                         Ð declare void the Commission decision of 26Ð27
implementation regulation, which lays down the detailed                 January 1998 to issue a regulation which purports to
implementing rules for imports of sugar qualifying under                reclassify for customs duty purposes a product
the rules relating to ACP/OCT cumulation of origin in                   imported by VTech from China known as the Smart
accordance with Article 108b of the OCT decision.                       Start Premier' and/or to declare void the ensuing
                                                                        regulation;
The sugar implementation regulation is intended to secure
the limitation by the Community of imports of sugar                Ð take such further action as the Court may deem
originating, in particular, in Aruba. The Commission has                appropriate; and
restricted trade between Aruba and the Community,
contrary to Community law. Those restrictions must be              Ð order the Commission to pay the costs.
lifted for the remaining duration of the OCT decision. The
application also includes a claim that the legal
infringements complained of should not be repeated in the          Pleas in law and main arguments:
future. Lastly, the contested regulation imposes serious
restrictions on, and thus severely affects, an important
infant industry' in Aruba, namely the sugar refining              The applicant is a company incorporated in the United
sector.                                                            Kingdom and belongs to the worldwide VTech Group of
                                                                   Companies. VTech's principal activity is the sale of
                                                                   electronic products, in particular learning pads, electronic
The pleas in law advanced in opposition to the contested           keyboard units programmed with a number of activities
regulation allege lack of competence, infringement of              for children. The object of its application is a Commission
 ---pagebreak--- C 166/20             EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                   30.5.98
decision of 26Ð27 January 1998 (the Decision') to issue            Ð it was given no opportunity to make representations
a regulation (the Regulation) which purports to reclassify              concerning the Regulation before the Nomenclature
for customs duty purposes a product imported by VTech                   Committee; and
from China known as the Smart Start Premier'. The
purported effect of the Regulation is to classify the Smart
                                                                    Ð the Decision effectively overturns the decisions of the
Start Premier for customs duty purposes as a toy' as
                                                                        Tribunal which is the duly constituted court
opposed to a game'.
                                                                        established by the United Kingdom. In so doing, it
The applicant submits in this regard that prior to the                  infringes the principles of legitimate expectations and
Commission's decision in this case it had twice                         legal certainty.
successfully appealed to the Value Added Tax and Duties
Tribunal in the United Kingdom against decisions of HM
Customs and Excise that products sold by the company
should be classified as toys'. Following the outcome of
those proceedings, the Tariff and Statistical Nomenclature
Section (T&SNS) of the Customs Code Committee of the                        Removal from the register of Case T-7/97 (1)
Commission considered the Smart Start Premier, a similar
product marketed by VTech, and announced its intention                                       (98/C 166/48)
to issue the Regulation.
The applicant submits that, in adopting the Decision, the           By order of 25 March 1998 the President of the First
Commission acted in breach of the EC Treaty, in                     Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the European
particular Articles 28 and 29, and of the Community                 Communities has ordered the removal from the register of
Customs Code, and also in breach of Community law, as               Case T-7/97: Miguel Vicente-NunÄez v Commission of the
regards both substance and procedure.                               European Communities.
It understands that the Commission has referred to the              (1) OJ C 108 of 5.4.1997.
Harmonised System Explanatory Notes (HSEN) as a
justification for the Regulation's classifyng the product as
an educational toy'. It submits that the HSEN do not
have binding force and that they cannot override the
provisions of the Common Customs Tariff (CCT) and its
General Interpretative Rules. Accordingly, inasmuch as the
Commission is purporting to classify a product in breach                  Removal from the register of Case T-170/97 (1)
of the Community Customs Code it is thereby also                                             (98/C 166/49)
purporting to alter autonomously the duties in the CCT
and acting in breach of Article 28 of the EC Treaty which
expressly provides that any such alteration of duties can           By order of 30 March 1998 the President of the Fourth
only be decided by the Council.                                     Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the European
                                                                    Communities has ordered the removal from the register of
From a procedural point of view, the applicant submits
                                                                    Case T-170/97: MichaeÈl Tavernier v European Court of
that:
                                                                    Auditors.
Ð the reasons for the issue of the Regulation have not
    been adequately explained;                                      (1) OJ C 7 of 10.1.1998.