Case T‑548/14

Kingdom of Spain

v

European Commission

(Customs union — Imports of tuna products originating in Ecuador — Post-clearance recovery of import duties — Request for waiver of recovery of import duties — Article 220(2)(b) and Article 236 of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 — Notice to importers published in the Official Journal — Good faith — Application for the remission of import duties — Article 239 of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92)

Summary — Judgment of the General Court (Fifth Chamber), 15 December 2016

1.      Own resources of the European Union — Post-clearance recovery of import or export duties — Conditions for not taking into account import duties set out in Article 220(2)(b) of Regulation No 2913/92 — Cumulative nature

(Council Regulation No 2913/92, Art. 220(2)(b))

2.      EU law — Principles — Legal certainty — Rules which may entail financial consequences

3.      Own resources of the European Union — Post-clearance recovery of import or export duties — Conditions for not taking into account import duties set out in Article 220(2)(b) of Regulation No 2913/92 — Notice to importers published in the Official Journal indicating grounds for doubt concerning the proper application of preferential arrangements — Need for the notice to be clear and precise

(Council Regulation No 2913/92, Art. 220(2)(b), fourth and fifth subparas)

1.      See the text of the decision.

(see paras 27-29)

2.      See the text of the decision.

(see para. 44)

3.      It follows from the wording of Article 220(2)(b) of Regulation No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code (CCC) that the publication in the Official Journal of the European Union of a notice to importers stating that there are grounds for doubt concerning the proper application of the preferential arrangements by the beneficiary non-member country prevents importers, as from the publication date, from pleading good faith, thereby ensuring a very high level of legal certainty and resulting in the national authorities or the Commission rejecting the application for non-recovery of import duties. In view of the specific importance attached to notices to importers, such notices must be especially clear, particularly as regards the countries covered. That is all the more so because it follows directly from the wording of the fifth subparagraph of Article 220(2)(b) of the CCC that such notices must state the reasonable doubts concerning the proper application of the preferential arrangements ‘by the beneficiary country’. Where a notice cannot be interpreted as also covering, with sufficient precision, imports from a non-member country, the person liable cannot be required to have altered its approach after publication of that notice. A different interpretation would diminish legal certainty for economic operators inasmuch as they would be required, where they have doubts as to the scope of a notice to importers, always to apply — as a precaution — additional measures of protection, even in respect of imports from countries not clearly identified as being the target of the Commission’s doubts.

(see paras 46, 60, 76)