Criminal proceedings against Sami Heinonen.
Date: 1999-06-15
24 As stated in the fourth recital in its preamble, the objective of Regulation No 918/83 is, in accordance with the requirements of the Customs Union, to eliminate differences in the field of exemptions from customs duties. More specifically, the objective of Articles 45 to 49 is to simplify the clearance through customs of goods contained in the personal luggage of travellers coming from non-member countries (Case 158/80 Rewe v Hauptzollamt Kiel [1981] ECR 1805, paragraph 11), and thus to facilitate passenger traffic.
25 The purpose of Directive 69/169, as its title suggests, is to harmonise exemptions from turnover tax and excise duty on imports in international travel. As is clear from the recitals in its preamble and from those in the preambles to the directives subsequently amending it, the aim is to liberalise the system of taxes on imports in travel in order to facilitate such travel.
27 The same interpretation must apply as regards Directive 69/169 which, like Regulation No 918/83, is limited to providing for a system of exemptions applicable to goods whose importation is not otherwise prohibited on one of the grounds set out in the preceding paragraph of this judgment.
33 By contrast, maintenance of public order and protection of internal security are among the first group of interests referred to in Article 24(2)(a)(1) of Regulation No 3285/94 and Article 19(2)(a)(i) of Regulation No 519/94. The same is true of protection of health and life of humans, to which the campaign against alcoholism makes a contribution (in the context of Article 36 of the Treaty, see Case C-189/95 Franzén [1997] ECR I-5909, paragraph 76).
36 In order to clarify the meaning of that question, it should be borne in mind that, with regard to Article 30 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 28 EC) and Article 36 of the Treaty, the Court has stated that, while it is for the Member States to decide at what level they wish to protect the interests referred to in Article 36 of the Treaty and how that level is to be attained, they may however do so only within the limits set by the Treaty and, in particular, in compliance with the principle of proportionality (Franzén, paragraph 75).
43 It should be pointed out that the Member States, which retain exclusive competence as regards the maintenance of public order and the safeguarding of internal security (Case C-265/95 Commission v France [1997] ECR I-6959, paragraph 33), enjoy a margin of discretion in determining, according to particular social circumstances and to the importance attached by those States to a legitimate objective under Community law, such as the campaign against various forms of criminality linked to the consumption of alcohol, the measures which are likely to achieve concrete results.
45 Accordingly, the answer to be given to the third question must be that national legislation restricting imports by travellers arriving from third countries of alcoholic drinks, on the basis of the duration of the journey, with a view to combating disturbances of public order connected with the consumption of alcohol, is not contrary to Regulation No 918/83 or Directive 69/169.