Sopropé - Organizações de Calçado Lda v Fazenda Pública.
Date: 2008-12-18
33. Fundamental rights form an integral part of the general principles of law the observance of which the Court ensures. For that purpose, it draws inspiration from the constitutional traditions common to the Member States and from the guidelines supplied by international treaties for the protection of human rights on which the Member States have collaborated or to which they are signatories (see, inter alia, Case C‑274/99 P Connolly  v Commission  [2001] ECR I-1611, paragraph 37).
34. It also follows from the settled case-law of the Court that, where national legislation comes within the scope of Community law, the Court, when requested to give a preliminary ruling, must provide all the criteria of interpretation required by the national court to determine whether those rules are compatible with the fundamental rights the observance of which the Court ensures (see, inter alia, Case C‑260/89 ERT  [1991] ECR I-2925, paragraph 42, and Case C-159/90 Society for the Protection of Unborn Children Ireland  [1991] ECR I-4685, paragraph 31).
36. Observance of the rights of the defence is a general principle of Community law which applies where the authorities are minded to adopt a measure which will adversely affect an individual.
37. In accordance with that principle, the addressees of decisions which significantly affect their interests must be placed in a position in which they can effectively make known their views as regards the information on which the authorities intend to base their decision. They must be given a sufficient period of time in which to do so (see, inter alia, Commission  v Lisrestal and Others , paragraph 21, and Mediocurso  v Commission , paragraph 36).
38. The authorities of the Member States are subject to that obligation when they take decisions which come within the scope of Community law, even though the Community legislation applicable does not expressly provide for such a procedural requirement. As regards the implementation of that principle and, in particular, the periods within which the rights of the defence must be exercised, it must be stated that, where those periods are not, as in the main proceedings, fixed by Community law, they are governed by national law on condition, first, that they are the same as those to which individuals or undertakings in comparable situations under national law are entitled and, secondly, that they do not make it impossible in practice or excessively difficult to exercise the rights of defence conferred by the Community legal order.
40. As regards the first issue, it must be pointed out that it is normal and also appropriate for national legislation and regulations to establish, within the context of the numerous existing administrative procedures, general rules governing periods within which particular steps may or must be taken. The establishment of such rules also serves to promote the principle of equal treatment. In respect of national legislation which comes within the scope of Community law, it is for the Member States to establish those periods in the light of, inter alia, the significance for the parties concerned of the decisions to be taken, the complexities of the procedures and of the legislation to be applied, the number of persons who may be affected and any other public or private interests which must be taken into consideration.
41. As regards post-clearance recovery of customs import duties, a period within which a taxpayer may exercise his right to a hearing which cannot be less than 8 days or greater than 15 days does not, as a matter of principle, make it impossible in practice or excessively difficult to exercise the rights of defence conferred by the Community legal order. The undertakings which may be affected by the procedure at issue in the main proceedings are professionals which have recourse to importation on a regular basis. Furthermore, the applicable Community legislation provides that those undertakings must be able to furnish proof, for the purposes of inspection, of the lawfulness of all the transactions that they have effected. Lastly, the general interest of the European Community and, in particular, the interest in recovering its own revenue as soon as possible mean that inspections must be capable of being carried out promptly and effectively.
43. Although the Court has no jurisdiction under Article 234 EC to apply a rule of Community law to a particular case and thus to judge a provision of national law by reference to such a rule, it may none the less, within the framework of the judicial cooperation provided for by that article and on the basis of the material presented to it, provide the national court with an interpretation of Community law which may be useful to it in assessing the effects of that provision (Case 20/87 Gauchard  [1987] ECR 4879, paragraph 5; Joined Cases C-515/99, C‑519/99 to C-524/99 and C‑526/99 to C-540/99 Reisch and Others  [2002] ECR I-2157, paragraph 22; and Case C-6/01 Anomar and Others  [2003] ECR I-8621, paragraph 37).
49. The purpose of the rule that the addressee of an adverse decision must be placed in a position to submit his observations before that decision is adopted is to enable the competent authority effectively to take into account all relevant information. In order to ensure that the person or undertaking concerned is in fact protected, the purpose of that rule is, inter alia, to enable them to correct an error or submit such information relating to their personal circumstances as will argue in favour of the adoption or non-adoption of the decision, or in favour of its having a specific content.
50. Accordingly, respect for the rights of the defence implies that, in order that the person entitled to those rights can be regarded as having been placed in a position in which he may effectively make known his views, the authorities must take note, with all requisite attention, of the observations made by the person or undertaking concerned.