Judgment of the Court (Tenth Chamber) of 13 March 2019 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Sąd Okręgowy w Piotrkowie Trybunalskim — Poland) — Criminal proceedings against B. S.

(Case C-195/18) ¹

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Taxation — Excise duties on alcohol and alcoholic beverages — Directive 92/83/EEC — Article 2 — Definition of ‘beer’ — Beverage produced from wort obtained from a mixture containing more glucose than malt — Combined Nomenclature — Heading 2203 (beer made from malt) or 2206 (other fermented beverages))

Language of the case: Polish

Referring court

Sąd Okręgowy w Piotrkowie Trybunalskim

Party to the main proceedings

B. S.

Other parties: Prokuratura Okręgowa w Piotrkowie Trybunalskim, Łódzki Urząd Celno-Skarbowy w Łodzi, Urząd Celno-Skarbowy w Piotrkowie Trybunalskim

Operative part of the judgment

Article 2 of Council Directive 92/83/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the harmonisation of the structures of excise duties on alcohol and alcoholic beverages must be interpreted as meaning that an intermediate product intended to be mixed with non-alcoholic beverages, obtained from a wort containing less malt ingredients than non-malt ingredients and to which glucose syrup is added before the fermentation process, may be classified as ‘beer made from malt’ within heading 2203 of the Combined Nomenclature 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 in the version of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2587/91 of 26 July 1991, provided that the organoleptic characteristics of the product correspond to those of beer, which is for the referring court to ascertain.

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¹ OJ C 221, 25.6.2018.