1 This request for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of tariff heading 4902 of the Combined Nomenclature set out in Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff (OJ 1987 L 256, p. 1), in the version resulting from Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1602 of 11 October 2018 (OJ 2018 L 273, p. 1) (‘the CN’), and of the principles of equal treatment and fiscal neutrality.
2 The request has been made in proceedings between Keesing Deutschland GmbH and the Finanzamt für Körperschaften II (Tax Office for Corporate Bodies II, Germany; ‘the Tax Office’) concerning the determination of the rate of value added tax (VAT) to be applied to the supply of books containing number sudoku games.
3 The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (‘the HS’) was drawn up by the Customs Cooperation Council, now the World Customs Organization (WCO), established by the Convention establishing a Customs Cooperation Council, concluded in Brussels on 15 December 1950. The HS was established by the International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, concluded in Brussels on 14 June 1983 (United Nations Treaty Series, Vol. 1503, p. 4, No 25910 (1988)), and approved, with its protocol of amendment of 24 June 1986, on behalf of the European Economic Community by Council Decision 87/369/EEC of 7 April 1987 (OJ 1987 L 198, p. 1) (‘the HS Convention’). The explanatory notes to the HS are drawn up within the WCO in accordance with the provisions of that convention.
4 In accordance with Article 2 of the HS Convention, the annex to that convention, in which the HS is set out, is to form an integral part of that convention and any reference to the HS Convention is to include a reference to that annex.
5 Under Article 3(1)(a) of that convention, each Contracting Party undertakes, inter alia, that its customs tariff and statistical nomenclatures will be in conformity with the HS, first, by using all the headings and subheadings of the HS without addition or modification, together with their related numerical codes; second, by applying the General rules for the interpretation of the HS and all the section, chapter and subheading notes without modifying their scope; and, third, by following the numerical sequence of the HS.
6 The final sentence of the HS Convention states that the French- and English-language texts of that convention are equally authentic.
7 The general considerations set out in the explanatory notes relating to Chapter 49 of the HS are worded as follows: ‘With the few exceptions referred to below, this Chapter covers all printed matter of which the essential nature and use is determined by the fact of its being printed with motifs, characters or pictorial representations. … For the purposes of this Chapter, the term “printed” includes not only reproduction by the several methods of ordinary hand printing (e.g., prints from engravings or woodcuts, other than originals) or mechanical printing (letterpress, offset printing, lithography, photogravure, etc.), but also reproduction by duplicating machines, production under the control of an automatic data processing machine, embossing, photography, photocopying, thermocopying or typewriting (see Note 2 to this Chapter), irrespective of the form of the characters in which the printing is executed (e.g., letters of any alphabet, figures, shorthand signs, Morse or other code symbols, Braille characters, musical notations, pictures, diagrams). The term does not, however, include coloration or decorative or repetitive-design printing. …’
8 The explanatory note relating to heading 4902 of the HS states: ‘The distinguishing feature of the publications of this heading is that they constitute one issue in a continuous series under the same title published at regular intervals, each issue being dated (even by merely indicating the period of the year, e.g., “Spring 1996”) and also frequently numbered. They may be unbound or bound in paper, but if otherwise bound or if consisting of more than one issue under a single cover, they are excluded (heading 49.01). These publications usually consist essentially of reading matter but they may also be profusely illustrated and may even consist mainly of pictorial matter. They may also contain advertising material. …’
9 As is apparent from Article 1(1) of Regulation No 2658/87, the CN, established by the European Commission, governs the tariff classification of goods imported into the European Union.
10 Under Article 1(2) and Article 3(1) of Regulation No 2658/87, the CN reproduces the six-digit headings and subheadings of the HS, with only the seventh and eighth digits creating subdivisions which are specific to the CN.
11 Under Article 12(1) of that regulation, the Commission is to adopt each year, by means of a Regulation, a complete version of the CN together with the corresponding autonomous and conventional rates of duty of the Common Customs Tariff, as it results from measures adopted by the Council of the European Union or by the Commission. The said Regulation is to be published not later than 31 October in the Official Journal of the European Union and is to apply from 1 January of the following year.
12 It is apparent from the file before the Court that the version of the CN applicable to the case in the main proceedings is that resulting from Implementing Regulation 2018/1602.
13 The general rules for the interpretation of the CN, set out in Section I(A) of Part One of Annex I to that implementing regulation, provide: ‘Classification of goods in the [CN] shall be governed by the following principles: …’
14 Part Two of the CN, entitled ‘Schedule of Customs Duties’, contains Section X, entitled ‘Pulp of wood or of other fibrous cellulosic material; recovered (waste and scrap) paper or paperboard; paper and paperboard and articles thereof’, which includes Chapter 49, entitled ‘Printed books, newspapers, pictures and other products of the printing industry; manuscripts, typescripts and plans’.
15 The schedule of customs duties for Chapter 49, in the version applicable to the dispute in the main proceedings, contained the following headings:
16 Article 98 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax (OJ 2006 L 347, p. 1), as amended by Council Directive (EU) 2018/1713 of 6 November 2018 (OJ 2018 L 286, p. 20; ‘the VAT Directive’), provides: ‘1. Member States may apply either one or two reduced rates. 2. The reduced rates shall apply only to supplies of goods or services in the categories set out in Annex III. The reduced rates shall not apply to electronically supplied services with the exception of those falling under point (6) of Annex III. 3. When applying the reduced rates provided for in paragraph 1 to categories of goods, Member States may use the [CN] to establish the precise coverage of the category concerned.’
17 Point 6 of Annex III to the VAT Directive is worded as follows: ‘supply, including on loan by libraries, of books, newspapers and periodicals either on physical means of support or supplied electronically or both (including brochures, leaflets and similar printed matter, children’s picture, drawing or colouring books, music printed or in manuscript form, maps and hydrographic or similar charts), other than publications wholly or predominantly devoted to advertising and other than publications wholly or predominantly consisting of video content or audible music’.
18 Paragraph 12(2) of the Umsatzsteuergesetz (Law on turnover tax), in the version applicable to the dispute in the main proceedings (‘the UStG’), provides: ‘The rate of tax shall be reduced to 7 % in respect of the following transactions:
19 Annex 2 to the UStG is worded as follows:
20 In 2019, Keesing Deutschland marketed game books entitled ‘Sudoku-Varianten Spezial’. They are printed products bound in paper, each containing around 100 pages held together by a staple. Each book contains a preface, legal information, an explanation of the rules of sudoku, 88 sudoku games in which certain numbers in the series 1 to 9 are already entered in a grid - the other numbers having to be entered in the grid in a precise order - the corresponding solutions, and an advertisement printed on the final page. The title page contains an issue number, an indication of the frequency of publication - namely every eight weeks - and the date of issue of each game book.
21 In its declaration of turnover, Keesing Deutschland applied to the amounts generated by the sale of those books the reduced rate of VAT of 7 % provided for in Paragraph 12(2)(1) of the UStG, read in conjunction with point 49(b) of Annex 2 to that law, taking the view that those books come under heading 4902 of the CN.
22 The Tax Office refused to apply that rate of VAT. It considered that the standard rate should be applied, on the ground that the game books at issue in the main proceedings were to be classified under heading 4911 of the CN, since they did not contain any ‘qualifying text’ and, consequently, did not fall within the concept of ‘Druckschrift’ (‘printed writing’), used in the German-language version of heading 4902 of the CN.
23 Keesing Deutschland then brought an action against the decision of the Tax Office before the referring court, the Finanzgericht Berlin-Brandenburg (Finance Court, Berlin-Brandenburg, Germany), maintaining that those books should be classified under heading 4902 of the CN. It submits that the concept of ‘periodische Druckschriften’ (‘periodical printed writings’), used in the German-language version of heading 4902 of the CN, does not necessarily require the presence of a sequence of letters. It is apparent from the English- and French-language versions of that heading that, for the purpose of classifying the goods concerned under that heading, all that is required is the existence of a printed product that is published at regular intervals. It argues that the German-language version of that heading, which requires the existence of a Schrift (writing), contains a translation error. In addition, it submits that the game books at issue in the main proceedings contain graphics including a system composed of different numbers. Writing in number form should also be regarded as a Schrift (writing), since, like sequences of letters, it employs a system of graphic signs used for the purposes of human communication.
24 The referring court observes that the German legislature availed itself of the option, provided for in Article 98(3) of the VAT Directive, of referring to the CN in order to establish the precise coverage of the categories of goods to which Member States apply reduced rates of VAT, and thus of applying a rate of VAT of 7 %, inter alia, to supplies of periodische Druckschriften (periodical printed writings) coming under heading 4902 of the CN. Under national case-law, the question whether the reduced rate applies to the supply of certain categories of goods therefore depends solely on how those goods are classified under the headings or subheadings of the CN.
25 That court considers that the game books at issue in the main proceedings satisfy the conditions set out in the explanatory note relating to heading 4902 of the HS, in particular the requirement of periodicity. Therefore, the only decisive question for the resolution of the dispute before that court is whether, for the purpose of classifying goods under that heading, it is required that periodical printed writings, within the meaning of Annex 2 to the UStG, contain mainly text consisting of sequences of letters.
26 The referring court is of the opinion that that question should be answered in the negative. In that regard, it points out that the term Druckschrift, used in the German-language version of heading 4902 of the CN, means ‘printed written work’. The element Schrift, which denotes ‘a set of graphic signs forming a closed system that enables spoken language to be recorded and read’ or ‘a system of graphic signs that enables spoken, written or printed text to be represented legibly’, encompasses not only letters but also numbers.
27 In its view, that interpretation is supported, first, by the English- and French-language versions of heading 4902 of the CN, which contain no indication as to any typographical requirements for the written work covered by that heading, and, second, by the objective of Annex III to the VAT Directive, which seeks to reduce the cost of certain goods regarded as essential, in particular books, newspapers and periodicals, which promote the education of EU citizens through reading, in order to facilitate the final consumer’s access to those goods. It observes that game books, such as those at issue in the main proceedings, should fall within that objective since, inter alia, they strengthen the ability to concentrate, develop patience and perseverance, and can be used as a vocabulary exercise in the teaching of foreign languages or, as the case may be, music.
28 In addition, it states that the expression ‘usually consist essentially of reading matter’, used in the explanatory note relating to heading 4902 of the HS, suggests that the presence of text is not necessarily an essential characteristic of the printed products that are to be classified under that heading. Furthermore, the fact that that explanatory note also includes within that heading printed writings that are ‘profusely illustrated’ or contain advertising makes it possible to treat such writings in the same way as printed periodicals containing mainly numbers.
29 In the event that the Court of Justice considers that the game books at issue before it are not to be classified under heading 4902 of the CN, the referring court is unsure as to whether the principles of equal treatment and fiscal neutrality do not nevertheless require that the rate of VAT of 7 %, provided for in Paragraph 12(2)(1) of the UStG, read in conjunction with point 49(b) of Annex 2 to that law, be applied to those books.
30 In those circumstances, the Finanzgericht Berlin-Brandenburg (Finance Court, Berlin-Brandenburg) decided to stay the proceedings and to refer the following questions to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling:
31 By its first question, the referring court asks, in essence, whether tariff heading 4902 of the CN must be interpreted as meaning that goods described as books bound in paper which contain mainly printed sudoku games, in which certain numbers in the series 1 to 9 are already entered in a grid, the other numbers having to be entered in the grid in a precise order, and which are published every eight weeks, come under that heading.
32 As a preliminary point, it should be noted that, under Article 98(3) of the VAT Directive, Member States may use the CN when applying reduced rates to categories which refer to supplies of goods, in order to establish the precise coverage of the category concerned. However, use of the CN is only one of several ways of establishing the precise coverage of the category concerned (judgment of 22 April 2021, Dyrektor Izby Administracji Skarbowej w Katowicach, C‑703/19, EU:C:2021:314, paragraph 39 and the case-law cited).
33 Accordingly, provided that the transactions to which the reduced rate applies fall within one of the categories in Annex III to the VAT Directive and that the principle of fiscal neutrality is complied with, the national legislature is free, when defining in its domestic law the categories to which it intends to apply that reduced rate, to classify the supplies of goods and services included in the categories in Annex III to the VAT Directive in accordance with the method which it considers to be the most appropriate (judgment of 22 April 2021, Dyrektor Izby Administracji Skarbowej w Katowicach, C‑703/19, EU:C:2021:314, paragraph 40).
34 It follows that, notwithstanding the fact that, in accordance with Article 1(2)(a) of Regulation No 2658/87, the CN is to comprise the HS nomenclature and that, under Article 3(1) of the HS Convention, the contracting parties to that convention, including the European Union, undertake to ensure that their customs tariff and statistical nomenclatures are in conformity with the HS and not to modify the scope of the HS headings, the Member States remain, in principle, free to define the supplies of goods to which the reduced rates are to apply by reference to categories that do not necessarily coincide with the headings or subheadings of the CN, where they use the CN for the purpose of applying Article 98(3) of the VAT Directive, provided that the conditions recalled in the preceding paragraph of the present judgment are complied with.
35 In the present case, it is apparent, however, from the information provided by the referring court that, with regard to the supply of periodische Druckschriften (periodical printed writings), the German legislature availed itself of the option provided for in Article 98 of the VAT Directive by referring solely to heading 4902 of the CN.
36 Since the classification of taxable transactions according to the categories in Annex III to the VAT Directive is an essential prerequisite for verifying the applicability of a reduced rate of VAT, it is for the Court to define the criteria relevant to that assessment, which is a matter for the national court (judgment of 22 April 2021, Dyrektor Izby Administracji Skarbowej w Katowicach, C‑703/19, EU:C:2021:314, paragraph 46).
37 In that regard, it should be noted that, when the Court is requested to give a preliminary ruling on a matter of tariff classification, its task is to provide the national courts with guidance on the criteria which will enable the latter to classify the products at issue correctly in the CN, rather than to effect that classification itself. The description, for classification purposes, of the goods at issue is the result of a purely factual finding which it is not for the Court to make in the context of a reference for a preliminary ruling (judgments of 7 November 2002, Lohmann and Medi Bayreuth, C‑260/00 to C‑263/00, EU:C:2002:637, paragraph 26, and of 8 May 2025, Prisum Healthcare, C‑252/24, EU:C:2025:339, paragraph 33).
38 That being said, it must be pointed out that, in accordance with General Rule 1 for the interpretation of the CN, classification of goods is to be determined according to the terms of the headings and any relative section or chapter notes to that nomenclature.
39 In the interests of legal certainty and ease of verification, the decisive criterion for the classification of goods for customs purposes is, in general, to be found in their objective characteristics and properties as defined in the wording of the relevant heading of the CN and of the section or chapter notes (judgments of 10 December 1975, Vandertaelen and Maes, 53/75, EU:C:1975:173, paragraph 9, and of 28 November 2024, BG Technik, C‑129/23 and C‑567/23, EU:C:2024:995, paragraph 39).
40 Furthermore, the Court has repeatedly held that, although the explanatory notes to the HS and CN do not have binding force, they are an important means of ensuring the uniform application of the Common Customs Tariff and, as such, may be regarded as useful aids to its interpretation (judgments of 15 February 1977, Dittmeyer, 69/76 and 70/76, EU:C:1977:25, paragraph 4, and of 8 May 2025, Prisum Healthcare, C‑252/24, EU:C:2025:339, paragraph 35).
41 As regards the wording of heading 4902 of the CN, it must be observed that there are discrepancies between the different language versions of that heading, in particular between the German-, English- and French-language versions thereof.
42 The French-language version of heading 4902 provides that it includes journaux et publications périodiques imprimés, même illustrés ou contenant de la publicité (newspapers and periodical printed publications, whether or not illustrated or containing advertising), whereas the English-language version of that heading refers to ‘newspapers, journals and periodicals, whether or not illustrated or containing advertising material’. As for the German-language version of heading 4902 of the CN, it refers to Zeitungen und andere periodische Druckschriften, auch mit Bildern oder Werbung enthaltend (newspapers and other periodical printed writings, including those containing images or advertising).
43 In that regard, it should be recalled that, where there is a divergence between the various language versions of a provision of EU law, the provision in question must be interpreted by reference to the purpose and general scheme of the rules of which it forms part (judgments of 27 October 1977, Bouchereau, 30/77, EU:C:1977:172, paragraph 14, and of 30 April 2025, Celní jednatelství Zelinka, C‑330/24, EU:C:2025:296, paragraph 19).
44 Moreover, the need for the uniform application of an EU measure and, accordingly, for a uniform interpretation of that measure requires that it be interpreted on the basis of both the real intention of its author and the aim which the latter seeks to achieve, in the light, in particular, of all the language versions of that measure (judgments of 12 November 1969, Stauder, 29/69, EU:C:1969:57, paragraphs 2 and 3, and of 18 January 2024, Regionalna direktsia ‘Avtomobilna administratsia’ Pleven, C‑227/22, EU:C:2024:57, paragraph 43).
45 With regard to the purpose of the CN, as has been noted in paragraph 34 of the present judgment, in accordance with Article 1(2)(a) of Regulation No 2658/87, the CN is to comprise the HS nomenclature.
46 As has also been noted in paragraph 34 above, under Article 3(1) of the HS Convention, the contracting parties to that convention, including the European Union, undertake to ensure that their customs tariff and statistical nomenclatures are in conformity with the HS and not to modify the scope of the HS headings (see, to that effect, judgment of 15 April 2021, Vogel Import Export, C‑62/20, EU:C:2021:288, paragraph 53).
47 Reference should therefore be made, in the first place, to the French- and English-language versions of heading 4902 of the CN, which correspond to the French- and English-language versions of heading 4902 of the HS, respectively, in so far as the CN was established on the basis of the HS, only the French and English texts of which are authoritative, by virtue of the final sentence of the HS Convention (see, to that effect, judgment of 9 December 1997, Knubben Spedition, C‑143/96, EU:C:1997:597, paragraph 15).
48 In that regard, first, it follows from the wording of heading 4902 of the CN, in its French- and English-language versions, that that heading covers, inter alia, periodicals.
49 That interpretation is confirmed by the explanatory note relating to heading 4902 of the HS, which states that ‘the distinguishing feature of the publications of this heading is that they constitute one issue in a continuous series under the same title published at regular intervals, each issue being dated … and also frequently numbered’, and, moreover, that periodical publications coming under that heading ‘usually consist essentially of reading matter but they may also be profusely illustrated and may even consist mainly of pictorial matter. They may also contain advertising material’.
50 Second, there is nothing in the wording of heading 4902 of the CN, in the French- and English-language versions thereof, to suggest that only periodical publications containing mainly writings must be classified under that heading, still less that that heading includes only periodical publications containing mainly text.
51 On the contrary, as noted, in essence, by the referring court, the use of the expression ‘usually’ in the part of the explanatory note relating to heading 4902 of the HS cited second in paragraph 49 of the present judgment leads to the conclusion that periodical publications consisting mainly of printed text certainly come under that heading, but that that heading also includes periodical publications with content other than text.
52 Third, as the Commission has observed, it is apparent from the general considerations in the explanatory notes relating to Chapter 49 of the HS that, for the purposes of that chapter, the term ‘printed’ does not differ in scope depending on ‘the form of the characters in which the printing is executed (e.g., letters of any alphabet, figures, shorthand signs, Morse or other code symbols, Braille characters, musical notations, pictures, diagrams)’.
53 As regards, in the second place, the comparative assessment of the versions of the wording of heading 4902 of the CN in all the official languages of the European Union, it must be observed that that assessment reveals that the German-language version of that provision is the only one to refer to ‘printed writings’ (Druckschriften). By way of example, it is appropriate to cite the Spanish-, Czech-, Greek-, English-, French-, Dutch-, Finnish- and Swedish-language versions of that heading, which use the terms ‘publicaciones periódicas, impresos’, ‘periodika’, ‘περιοδικές εκδόσεις τυπωμένες’, ‘periodicals’, ‘publications périodiques imprimées’, ‘tijdschriften’, ‘aikakauslehdet’ and ‘tidskrifter’, respectively.
54 It follows from the considerations set out in paragraphs 48 to 53 of the present judgment that periodicals, in particular, must be classified under heading 4902 of the CN, and it is not required that they contain mainly text.
55 In the present case, provided that the goods at issue in the main proceedings constitute periodicals, which is a matter for the referring court to ascertain, it must be held that they are capable of coming under heading 4902 of the CN.
56 Furthermore, in so far as the characteristics of those goods correspond to those of the definition set out in that heading, the fact, relied on by the German Government, that those goods are not specifically referred to as examples in headings 4901 to 4910 of the CN or in the explanatory notes to the HS is not an obstacle to their classification under heading 4902 of the CN.
57 In the light of all the foregoing considerations, the answer to the first question is that tariff heading 4902 of the CN must be interpreted as meaning that goods described as books bound in paper which contain mainly printed sudoku games, in which certain numbers in the series 1 to 9 are already entered in a grid, the other numbers having to be entered in the grid in a precise order, and which are published every eight weeks, come under that heading.
58 It is apparent from the order for reference that the second question is raised only in the event that the first question is answered in the negative. In view of the answer given to the first question, there is no need to answer the second question.
59 Since these proceedings are, for the parties to the main proceedings, a step in the action pending before the referring court, the decision on costs is a matter for that court. Costs incurred in submitting observations to the Court, other than the costs of those parties, are not recoverable.