CELEX: 62011CA0438
Language: en
Date: 2012-11-08 00:00:00
Title: Case C-438/11: Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 8 November 2012 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Finanzgericht Hamburg — Germany) — Lagura Vermögensverwaltung GmbH v Hauptzollamt Hamburg-Hafen (Community customs code — Article 220(2)(b) — Post-clearance recovery of import duties — Legitimate expectations — Impossibility of verifying the accuracy of a certificate of origin — Notion of ‘certificate based on an incorrect account of the facts provided by the exporter’ — Burden of proof — Scheme of generalised tariff preferences)

12.1.2013   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 9/19
            
         Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 8 November 2012 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Finanzgericht Hamburg — Germany) — Lagura Vermögensverwaltung GmbH v Hauptzollamt Hamburg-Hafen
   (Case C-438/11) (1)
   
   (Community customs code - Article 220(2)(b) - Post-clearance recovery of import duties - Legitimate expectations - Impossibility of verifying the accuracy of a certificate of origin - Notion of ‘certificate based on an incorrect account of the facts provided by the exporter’ - Burden of proof - Scheme of generalised tariff preferences)
   2013/C 9/29
   Language of the case: German
   
      Referring court
   
   Finanzgericht Hamburg
   
      Parties to the main proceedings
   
   
      Applicant: Lagura Vermögensverwaltung GmbH
   
      Defendant: Hauptzollamt Hamburg-Hafen
   
      Re:
   
   Reference for a preliminary ruling — Finanzgericht Hamburg — Interpretation of Article 220(2)(b) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code (OJ 1992 L 302, p. 1), as amended by Regulation (EC) No 2700/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 November 2000 (OJ 2000 L 311, p. 17) — Export of goods from a non-member country to the European Union — Subsequent verification of the proof of origin — Impossibility of retroactively establishing whether the content of a certificate of origin issued by the competent authorities of that non-member country is correct — Protection of the importer’s legitimate expectations
   
      Operative part of the judgment
   
   Article 220(2)(b) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code, as amended by Regulation (EC) No 2700/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 November 2000, must be interpreted as meaning that if, owing to the fact that the exporter has ceased production, the competent authorities of the non-member country are unable, through a subsequent verification, to determine whether the certificate of origin Form A that they issued is based on a correct account of the facts by the exporter, the burden of proving that the certificate was based on a correct account of the facts by the exporter rests with the person liable for payment.
   
      (1)  OJ C 347, 26.11.2011.