Wortmann KG Internationale Schuhproduktionen v Hauptzollamt Bielefeld.
Date: 2017-01-18
21


However, the referring court states that it has doubts as to whether that approach is consistent with EU law. It refers to the case-law to the effect that the principle of the obligation on Member States to repay with interest amounts of tax levied in infringement of EU law follows from that law (judgment of 18 April 2013, Irimie, C‑565/11, EU:C:2013:250, paragraph 22). It is for that reason unsure whether the ‘unwritten law’ of the EU requires, in circumstances such as those obtaining in the main proceedings, the payment of interest on import duties which have been reimbursed. In that regard, according to the referring court, it is necessary to take into account, in particular, the fact that the national provisions on the payment of interest, in this case Paragraph 233 et seq. of the Tax Code, are applicable mutatis mutandis only subject to EU law, as is clear from Paragraph 1(3), first sentence, and Paragraph 3(4) of that code.
30


As is apparent from the judgment of 31 March 2011, Aurubis Balgaria (C‑546/09, EU:C:2011:199, paragraphs 26 to 34), where, following a recalculation of customs duties on the basis of additional information, a certain amount of those duties is still to be recovered, interest on arrears in respect of that amount may be charged, pursuant to Article 232(1)(b) of the Customs Code, only in respect of the period after the deadline by which those duties had to be paid.
33


It must be noted, however, that, even though, formally, the referring court has limited its question to the interpretation of Article 241 of the Customs Code, such a situation does not prevent the Court from providing the referring court with all the elements of interpretation of EU law which may be of assistance in adjudicating on the case before it, whether or not that court has specifically referred to them in that question (see, by analogy, judgment of 29 October 2015Nagy, C‑583/14, EU:C:2015:737, paragraphs 20 and 21 and the case-law cited).
34


In that regard, it must be observed that, according to the case-law of the Court, it is for the national authorities to draw the consequences, in their legal system, of the annulment or declaration of invalidity of a regulation imposing anti-dumping duties, which has the consequence that anti-dumping duties paid under the regulation concerned are not legally owed within the meaning of Article 236(1) of the Customs Code and must, in principle, be repaid by the customs authorities in accordance with that provision, provided that the conditions to which such repayment is subject, including that set out in Article 236(2) of that code, are satisfied (see, to that effect, judgments of 27 September 2007, Ikea Wholesale, C‑351/04, EU:C:2007:547, paragraph 67, and of 18 March 2010, Trubowest Handel and Makarov v Council and Commission, C‑419/08 P, EU:C:2010:147, paragraph 25).
37


Furthermore, it should be pointed out that it is clear from the case-law of the Court that, where taxes or duties have been levied by a Member State pursuant to an EU regulation that has been declared invalid or annulled by the EU judicature, the interested parties who have paid the taxes or duties in question have the right, in principle, to obtain not only the repayment of the amounts levied but also interest on those amounts (see, to that effect, judgment of 27 September 2012, Zuckerfabrik Jülich and Others, C‑113/10, C‑147/10 and C‑234/10, EU:C:2012:591, paragraphs 65 to 67 and the case-law cited).