Sfakianakis AEVE v Elliniko Dimosio.
Date: 2006-02-09
21. As pointed out by the Advocate General in point 31 of his Opinion, the system of administrative cooperation provided for in the Protocol is based on a division of responsibilities together with mutual trust between the authorities of the Member State concerned and those of the Republic of Hungary.
23. As the Court has held concerning the protocols pertaining to the definition of the concept of ‘originating products’ and to methods of administrative cooperation comparable to those of the Protocol, such a division of responsibilities is justified by the fact that the authorities of the State of export are in the best position to verify directly the facts determining the origin of the product concerned. That system can function only if the customs authorities of the State of import accept the determinations legally made by the authorities of the State of export (see, to that effect, Case 218/83 Les Rapides Savoyards and Others  [1984] ECR 3105, paragraphs 26 and 27).
28. As the Court has held on several occasions, the right to an effective judicial remedy is a general principle of Community law which underlies the constitutional traditions common to the Member States (Case 222/84 Johnston  [1986] ECR 1651, paragraph 18). Since the Association Agreement is an integral part of the Community legal order, it is therefore for the competent authorities of the Member States to uphold the right to an effective legal remedy in respect of the application of the customs scheme provided for by that agreement (see, to that effect, Case 12/86 Demirel  [1987] ECR 3719, paragraphs 7 and 28).
30. Lastly, the Court notes that the situation described in the second indent of the second question, in which it was not the Greek authorities who requested verification, does not affect the obligation of the authorities of the State of import to act in accordance with the final result of that investigation.
31. Article 32(1) of the Protocol provides that the subsequent verification may be carried out by the competent authorities of the State of export on their own initiative or at the request of the authorities of the State of import. Or, as was the case in the main proceedings here, that verification may also be carried out at the request of the services of the Commission which, pursuant to Article 211 EC, is charged with ensuring the proper application of the Association Agreement and its protocols (see, to that effect, Case C‑251/00 Ilumitrónica  [2002] ECR I‑10433, paragraph 60).
37. An initial conclusion to be drawn from those grounds is that it is for the customs authorities of the State of export to allow the issue of EUR.1 certificates attesting to the Hungarian origin of goods manufactured in the Republic of Hungary. At the same time, the authorities of the State of import must accept the validity of such certificates.
43. In the light of the foregoing, the answer to the third question must be that the effectiveness of the abolition of the imposition of customs duties under the Association Agreement precludes administrative decisions imposing the payment of customs duties, taxes and penalties taken by the customs authorities of the State of import before the definitive result of actions brought against the findings of the subsequent verification have been communicated to them, when the decisions of the authorities of the State of export which initially issued the EUR.1 certificates have not been revoked or cancelled.
The fourth question
49. The Court states in this respect as a preliminary that the Protocol is based on a system of administrative cooperation, which in turn is based on a division of responsibilities and mutual trust between the authorities of the Member States concerned. Under that system, in situations other than that described in Article 32(6) of the Protocol, the customs authorities of the State of import may not unilaterally declare invalid an EUR.1 certificate duly issued by the customs authorities of the State of export. Likewise, in cases of subsequent verification, the same authorities are bound by the results of such verification.
52. In that light, the fact that the dispute was not referred to the Association Committee cannot be used as a justification to derogate from the system of cooperation and not to respect the powers as allocated under the Association Agreement.