Notice for the OJ
Action brought on 23 September 2004 by Heuschen & Schrouff Oriëntal Foods Trading B.V. against the Commission of the European Communities
(Case T-382/04)
(Language of the case: Dutch)
An action against the Commission of the European Communities was brought before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on 23 September 2004 by Heuschen & Schrouff Oriëntal Foods Trading B.V., established in te Landsgraaf (Netherlands), represented by Hendrik Cornelis De Bie.
The applicant claims that the Court should:
1. annul Commission Decision REM 19/2002 of 17 June 2004 in so far as it holds the request for remission of duties unjustified;
2. order the Commission to pay the costs.
Pleas in law and main arguments:
The applicant imports, inter alia, rice paper, which, for several years, was declared under the same CN code. However, following the adoption of Commission Regulation No 1196/97 of 27 June 1997,
1 the goods had to be declared under a different CN code. The applicant concedes that this was not done in its case. However, according to the applicant, its case is a special situation in that the Netherlands customs authorities committed several errors when carrying out their controls. The applicant points out that the Netherlands customs authorities failed to notice that the rice paper had been wrongly classified, even in the course of various controls carried out over a period of eight months. The applicant also argues that it cannot be accused of deception or obvious negligence.
In support of its application, the applicant alleges infringement of Article 239 of Regulation No 2913/92,
2 erroneous assessment of the facts by the Commission and breach of the duty to state reasons. The applicant also alleges infringement of the principles of sound administration and equal treatment, given that the Commission reached a different conclusion in previous decisions. Finally, the applicant alleges infringement of the principle of proportionality.