Order of the Court (Ninth Chamber) of 19 December 2019 — Direcţia Generală Regională a Finanţelor Publice Bucureşti
(Case C‑679/19)(1)
(Request for a preliminary ruling — Article 99 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice — Controls of cash entering or leaving the European Union –Regulation (EC) No 1889/2005 — Scope — Articles 63 and 65 TFEU — Free movement of capital — Transport of large amounts of cash entering or leaving the territory of a Member State — Obligation to declare — Sanctions — Fine and confiscation for the benefit of the State of an undeclared sum in excess of 10 000 euros — Proportionality)
1. Free movement of capital and liberalisation of payments — Controls of cash entering or leaving the European Union — Regulation No 1889/2005 — Obligation to declare — Scope — Possibility, for Member States, to carry out national controls on movements of cash within the EU — Whether permissible
(Art. 65 TFEU; European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1889/2005, Recital 3 and Arts 1(2) and 3(1))
(see paras 21, 22, 24, 25)
2. Free movement of capital and liberalisation of payments — Restrictions — Obligation to declare significant sums of cash entering or leaving the territory of a Member State — National legislation providing for a fine and the confiscation of the undeclared sum above EU 10 000 in the event of failure to comply with such an obligation — Breach of principle of proportionality — Not permissible
(Arts 63 and 65 TFEU; European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1889/2005, Arts 3 and 9(1))
(see paras 34-39, operative part)
Operative part
Articles 63 and 65 TFEU must be interpreted as precluding the rules of a Member State which, for the purpose of sanctioning the failure of the obligation to declare large sums of cash entering or leaving the territory of that State provides, in addition to the imposition of an administrative fine, for the confiscation for the benefit of the State an undeclared sum in excess of 10 000 euros.