Kloosterboer Services BV v Inspecteur van de Belastingdienst/Douane Rotterdam.
Date: 2009-06-18
21. In that regard, it should be recalled that a regulation specifying the conditions for classification in a tariff heading or subheading is of a legislative nature and cannot have retroactive effect (see, inter alia, Case C-479/99 CBA Computer  [2001] ECR I‑4391, paragraph 31, and Case C-403/07 Metherma  [2008] ECR I-0000, paragraph 39). In addition, it is settled case-law that the Court may deem it necessary to consider provisions of Community law to which the national court has not referred when formulating its question for a preliminary ruling (see, inter alia, Joined Cases C-329/06 and C-343/06 Wiedemann and Funk  [2008] ECR I‑4635, paragraph 45, and Metherma , paragraph 39).
24. In order to answer that question, it should be noted that it is settled case-law that, in the interests of legal certainty and for ease of verification, the decisive criterion for the classification of goods for customs purposes is in general to be sought in their objective characteristics and properties as defined in the wording of the relevant heading of the CN and the notes to the sections or chapters (see, inter alia, Case C-183/06 RUMA  [2007] ECR I-1559, paragraph 27; and Joined Cases C-208/06 and C-209/06 Medion and Canon Deutschland  [2007] ECR I-7963, paragraph 34).
25. The explanatory notes drawn up by the Commission as regards the CN and by the World Customs Organisation as regards the HS are an important aid to the interpretation of the scope of the various tariff headings but do not have legally binding force (Case C-250/05 Turbon International [2006] ECR I-10531, paragraph 16).
26. For the purposes of classification under the appropriate heading, the intended use of a product may constitute an objective criterion for classification if it is inherent to the product, and that inherent character must be capable of being assessed on the basis of the product’s objective characteristics and properties (see, inter alia, RUMA , paragraph 36, and Medion and Canon Deutschland , paragraph 37).
27. Moreover, it should be noted that it is apparent from the case-law of the Court that the word ‘part’, within the meaning of heading 8473 of the CN, implies a whole for whose operation the part is essential (Case C-339/98 Peacock  [2000] ECR I‑8947, paragraph 21; and Turbon International,  paragraph 17).
29. The fact that those goods are composed of two distinct elements, namely a heat sink and a fan, which, when considered separately, could each be classified under a different subheading of the CN, namely subheadings 8473 30 90 and 8414 59 30, is not such as to call that classification into question.
30. Since the goods at issue in the main proceedings are composed of different materials and neither of the two subheadings mentioned in the previous paragraph is more specific than the other, it is appropriate, for the purposes of classifying those goods, to have recourse to the rule in paragraph 3(b) of the general rules (see, to that effect, Turbon International , paragraph 20).
31. Under that rule, in carrying out the tariff classification of goods it is necessary to identify, from among the materials of which they are composed, the one which gives them their essential character. This may be done by determining whether the goods would retain their characteristic properties if one or other of their constituents were removed from them ( Turbon International , paragraph 21).
32. In the same way, as stated in paragraph VIII of the explanatory note to the HS on general rule 3(b), the factor which determines the essential character of the goods may, depending on the type of goods, be determined for example by the nature of the constituent material or components, its bulk, quantity, weight or value, or the role of a constituent material in relation to the use of the goods.