Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 11 July 2013 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Cour de cassation – France) – Directeur général des douanes et droits indirects, Chef de l’agence de poursuites de la Direction nationale du renseignement et des enquêtes douanières v Harry Winston SARL
(Case C-273/12) 1
(Community Customs Code – Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 – Article 206 – Incurrence of a customs debt – Theft of goods placed under customs warehousing arrangements – Notion of ‘irretrievable loss of goods as a result of force majeure’ – Directive 2006/112/EC – Article 71 – Value added tax – Chargeable event – Chargeability of tax)
Language of the case: French
Referring court
Cour de cassation
Parties to the main proceedings
Applicant: Directeur général des douanes et droits indirects, Chef de l’agence de poursuites de la Direction nationale du renseignement et des enquêtes douanières
Defendant: Harry Winston SARL
Re:
Request for a preliminary ruling – Cour de Cassation (France) – Interpretation of Article 206 of Council Regulation No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code (OJ 1992 L 302, p. 1) and Article 71 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax (OJ 2006 L 347, p. 1) – Goods held under the customs warehousing procedure – Theft of goods – Concept of irretrievable loss of the goods – Case of force majeure – Incurrence of the customs debt on importation – Event giving rise to the VAT charge
Operative part of the judgment
Article 203(1) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code, as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 1791/2006 of 20 November 2006, must be interpreted as meaning that a theft of goods placed under customs warehousing arrangements constitutes an unlawful removal of those goods within the meaning of that provision, giving rise to a customs debt on importation. Article 206 of that regulation is capable of applying only to situations in which a customs debt is liable to be incurred pursuant to Articles 202 and 204(1)(a) of that regulation;
The second subparagraph of Article 71(1) of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax must be interpreted as meaning that the theft of goods placed under customs warehousing arrangements gives rise to the chargeable event and causes value added tax to become chargeable.
____________1 OJ C 235, 4.8.2012.