Procedural issue relating to a seizure of goods belonging to Metalsa Srl.
Date: 1993-07-01
11 It is clear from that case-law that the extension of the interpretation of a provision in the Treaty to a comparably, similarly or even identically worded provision of an agreement concluded by the Community with a non-member country depends, inter alia, on the aim pursued by each provision in its particular context and that a comparison between the objectives and context of the agreement and those of the Treaty is of considerable importance in that regard.
12 An international treaty must not be interpreted solely by reference to the terms in which it is worded but also in the light of its objectives. Article 31 of the Vienna Convention of 23 May 1969 on the law of treaties stipulates in that respect that a treaty is to be interpreted in good faith in accordance with the ordinary meaning to be given to its terms in their context and in the light of its object and purpose (Opinion 1/91 [1991] ECR I-6079, paragraph 14).
13 Account must be taken of the foregoing in determining whether or not the first paragraph of Article 18 of the free trade agreement between the EEC and Austria should be interpreted in the same way as Article 95 of the Treaty.
14 In Drexl, the Court ruled that national legislation which penalizes offences concerning the payment of value added tax on importation more severely than those concerning the payment of value added tax on domestic sales of goods is incompatible with Article 95 of the Treaty, in so far as that difference is disproportionate to the dissimilarity between the two categories of offences.
15 The Court based that interpretation in particular on the view that such a disproportion could have the effect of jeopardizing the free movement of goods within the Community and would thus be incompatible with Article 95 of the Treaty, the interpretation of which must take account of the aims of the Treaty, as laid down in Articles 2 and 3, which include, first, the establishment of a common market involving the elimination of all obstacles to trade in order to merge the national markets into a single market bringing about conditions as close as possible to those of a genuine internal market (paragraphs 23 and 24).
16 Those objectives do not form part of the free trade agreement between the EEC and Austria. According to the preamble to that agreement, the legal basis of which was Article 113 of the Treaty, its aim is to consolidate and extend the economic relations existing between the Community and Austria and to ensure, with due regard for fair conditions of competition, the harmonious development of their commerce. To that end, the Contracting Parties decided to eliminate progressively the obstacles to substantially all their trade, in accordance with the provisions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) concerning the establishment of free trade areas.
17 In Kupferberg, the Court stated, with regard to Article 21 of the Agreement between the European Economic Community and the Portuguese Republic, signed in Brussels on 22 July 1972, concluded and approved, in the name of the Community, by Regulation (EEC) No 2844/72 of the Council of 19 December 1972 (OJ, English Special Edition 1972 (1 December ° JO L 301), p. 166), that interpretations given to Article 95 of the Treaty could not be applied by way of simple analogy to the Agreement on free trade, and that, as a result, the first paragraph of Article 21 thereof must be interpreted according to its terms and in the light of the objective which it pursues in the system of free trade established by the Agreement (see paragraphs 30 and 31).
18 Those considerations also apply to the interpretation of the first paragraph of Article 18 of the Agreement between the EEC and Austria, the terms of which are identical to those of the first paragraph of Article 21 of the Agreement between the EEC and Portugal and which is included in an agreement which, as in the case of that concluded with Portugal, has as its aim the creation of a system of free trade between the Contracting Parties.
19 Consequently, the interpretation of Article 95 of the Treaty laid down by the Court in Drexl cannot be extended to the first paragraph of Article 18 of the free trade agreement concluded between the Community and Austria.
20 That paragraph prohibits discrimination resulting from any measure or practice which has a direct or indirect effect on the calculation, applicability and methods of collection of taxes on products of the other Contracting Party but does not require that there be any comparison between the penalties imposed by Member States for tax offences occurring on importation of goods from Austria and those imposed for tax offences arising on domestic transactions or on imports from other Member States.