CELEX: C2006/224/47
Language: en
Date: 2006-09-16 00:00:00
Title: Case C-314/06: Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Cour de Cassation (France) lodged on 20 July 2006 — Société Pipeline Méditerranée et Rhône v Administration des Douanes et Droits indirects, Direction nationale du renseignement et des enquêtes douanières (DNRED)

16.9.2006   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 224/25
            
         Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Cour de Cassation (France) lodged on 20 July 2006 — Société Pipeline Méditerranée et Rhône v Administration des Douanes et Droits indirects, Direction nationale du renseignement et des enquêtes douanières (DNRED)
   (Case C-314/06)
   (2006/C 224/47)
   Language of the case: French
   Referring court
   Cour de Cassation
   Parties to the main proceedings
   
      Applicant: Société Pipeline Méditerranée and Rhône
   
      Defendant: Administration des douanes et droits indirects, Direction nationale du renseignement et des enquêtes douanières (DNRED)
   Questions referred
   
               1.
            
            
               Must the concept of force majeure giving rise to losses of products under duty suspension arrangements, within the meaning of Article 14(1) of Council Directive 92/12/EEC of 25 February 1992 on the general arrangements for products subject to excise and on the holding, movement and monitoring of such products (1), be interpreted as meaning unforeseeable and unavoidable circumstances beyond the control of the approved warehousekeeper who seeks to rely on those circumstances in support of its application for exemption from duty, or is it sufficient that the approved warehousekeeper could not have avoided those circumstances?
            
         
               2.
            
            
               Can losses of part of products which have leaked from a pipeline due to their liquid nature and to the characteristics of the ground on which they spilled, which hindered their recovery and led to the levying of duty on them, be regarded as inherent in the nature of the products within the meaning of Article 14(1) of Directive 92/12?
            
         
      (1)  OJ L 76, p.l