Texaco A/S v Middelfart Havn, Århus Havn, Struer Havn, Ålborg Havn, Fredericia Havn, Nørre Sundby Havn, Hobro Havn, Randers Havn, Åbenrå Havn, Esbjerg Havn, Skagen Havn and Thyborøn Havn and Olieselskabet Danmark amba v Trafikministeriet, Fredericia Kommune, Køge Havn, Odense Havnevæsen, Holstebro-Struer Havn, Vejle Havn, Åbenrå Havn, Ålborg Havnevæsen, Århus Havnevæsen, Frederikshavn Havn, Esbjerg Havn.
Date: 1997-07-17
30 Seen in that context, Article 18 seeks to ensure that the liberalization of trade in goods through the abolition of customs duties and charges having equivalent effect and quantitative restrictions and measures having equivalent effect is not rendered nugatory by fiscal practices of the contracting parties.  That would be so, as the Court expressly stated in paragraph 25 of Kupferberg, if the imported products of one party were taxed more heavily than similar domestic products appearing with them on the market of the other party.
31 In the light of those objectives, and having regard to its terms, Article 18 of the EEC/Sweden Agreement must therefore be interpreted as imposing on the contracting parties a rule against discrimination in matters of taxation, which is dependent only on a finding that the products affected by a particular system of taxation are of like nature, and which prohibits discrimination arising from any measure or practice having a direct or indirect effect on the way in which taxes imposed on the other contracting party's products are determined, applied or collected.
32 The fact remains that a goods duty which, as the Court held in paragraphs 20 to 24 of Haahr, forms part of a general system of internal dues applying systematically to categories of products according to objective criteria applied without regard to the origin of the products, constitutes an internal measure of a fiscal nature within the meaning of Article 18 of the EEC/Sweden Agreement, and that application to imported products alone of a surcharge in addition to the duty payable on domestic and imported products is contrary to the prohibition of discrimination laid down in that provision.
35 The Court has consistently held that Article 95 of the Treaty applies only to products from the Member States and, where appropriate, to goods originating in non-member countries which are in free circulation in the Member States.  It follows that that provision is not applicable to products imported directly from non-member countries (see, in particular, Case C-130/92 OTO v Ministero delle Finanze [1994] ECR I-3281, paragraph 18).
36 For trade with non-member countries, as far as internal taxation is concerned, the Treaty does not include any rule analogous to that laid down in Article 95 (Case 148/77 Hansen v Hauptzollamt Flensburg [1978] ECR 1787, paragraph 23, and OTO, paragraph 20).
39 The fact that a tax or levy is collected by a body governed by public law other than the State or is collected for its benefit and is a charge which is special or appropriated for a specific purpose cannot prevent its falling within the field of application of Article 95 of the Treaty (see Case 74/76 Iannelli v Meroni [1977] ECR 557, paragraph 19) or, where appropriate, the prohibition laid down in that provision.
40 Entitlement to the repayment of charges levied by a Member State contrary to the rules of Community law is a consequence of, and an adjunct to, the rights conferred on individuals by the Community provisions prohibiting such charges.  The Member State is therefore in principle required to repay charges levied in breach of Community law (Joined Cases C-192/95 to C-218/95 Comateb and Others [1997] ECR I-165, paragraph 20).
41 However, the Court has also consistently held that, in the absence of Community rules governing a matter, it is for the domestic legal system of each Member State to designate the courts and tribunals having jurisdiction and to lay down the detailed procedural rules governing actions for safeguarding rights which individuals derive from the direct effect of Community law; however, such rules must not be less favourable than those governing similar domestic actions or render virtually impossible or excessively difficult the exercise of rights conferred by Community law (see inter alia Case C-312/93 Peterbroeck v Belgian State [1995] ECR I-4599, paragraph 12, and the cases cited).
45 It follows from the judgment in Case 199/82 Amministrazione delle Finanze dello Stato v San Giorgio [1983] ECR 3595, paragraph 12, cited by the national court, that while entitlement to the repayment of charges levied by a Member State contrary to the rules of Community law is a consequence of, and an adjunct to, the rights conferred on individuals by the Community provisions prohibiting such charges, as Community law stands at present repayment may be sought only within the framework of the conditions as to both substance and form laid down by the various national laws applicable thereto, provided always that those conditions may not be less favourable than those governing similar domestic actions or render virtually impossible or excessively difficult the exercise of rights conferred by Community law.
46 Next, the Court has held, at paragraph 48 of Haahr, that the laying down of reasonable limitation periods, which is an application of the fundamental principle of legal certainty, satisfies the two conditions referred to above and, in particular, cannot be regarded as rendering virtually impossible or excessively difficult the exercise of rights conferred by Community law, even if the expiry of those periods necessarily entails the dismissal, in whole or in part, of the action brought.
48 In paragraph 17 of that judgment, the Court expressly recounted the principle that the fixing of reasonable time-limits which, if unobserved, bar proceedings, satisfies the conditions laid down in the decisions referred to.  It was only because of the particular nature of directives and having regard to the specific circumstances of that case that the Court held, in paragraph 23, that until such time as a directive has been properly transposed into domestic law, a Member State may not rely on an individual's delay in initiating proceedings against it in order to protect rights conferred upon him by the provisions of the directive and that a period laid down by national law within which proceedings must be initiated cannot begin to run before that time.
49 Since the claims for repayment referred to in the national court's questions are not based on the direct effect of a provision of a directive incorrectly transposed into domestic law, but rather on that of a provision of the Treaty or of a free-trade agreement such as the EEC/Sweden Agreement, the answer to be given to the sixth and seventh questions must be that it is not contrary to Community law for a national limitation period applicable to claims for repayment of duties levied in breach of Article 95 of the Treaty or a provision similar to Article 18 of the EEC/Sweden Agreement to start to run from an earlier point in time than that from which the duties were discontinued.