Chapter 2 Flashcards
(37 cards)
What is Article 26(2)
‘The internal market shall comprise an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured in accordance with the provisions of the Treaties’.
What are ‘goods’?
Commission v Italy
‘products which can be valued in money and which are capable, as such, of forming the subject of commercial transactions’.
What is a customs union?
> A ‘free trade area’ where goods pass between countries without the imposition of restrictions such as customs duties [internal]
A system for the charging of a ‘common customs tariff’ on goods coming into the free trade area from other countries [external]
What is Article 28(1)?
The Union shall comprise a customs union which shall cover all trade in goods and which shall involve the prohibition between Member States of customs duties on imports and exports and of all charges having equivalent effect, and the adoption of a common customs tariff in their relations with third countries.
What are the provisions of the treaty?
Article 30 - Prohibits customs duties and charges having equivalent effect
Article 110 - prohibits discriminatory taxation
What are charges having equivalent effect?
Commission v Italy (Statistical Levy)
> ‘Any pecuniary charge … which is imposed unilaterally on domestic or foreign goods by reason of the fact that they cross a frontier and which is not a customs duty in the strict sense …’
What is IRRELEVANT to identify a CEE ?
Size of charge
Designation
Mode of application
That the charge is not imposed for the benefit of the State.
That the charge is not discriminatory
That the charge is not protective in effect
That the product on which the charge is imposed is not in competition with any domestic product
What happened in Commission v Italy (Statistical Levy)
Levy imposed by italy on imports for the purpose of collecting accurate statistical material relating to trade patterns
What happened in Sociaal Fonds?
Charge on diamonds imported into Belgium was a CEE even though not protectionist
What about charges that do not constitute a customs duty of a CEE?
3 Ways 1. Related to a system of internal dues 2. Payment for a service rendered 3. Attaches to inspections imposed by EU law Commission v Germany
Explain Internal Dues
Charges will not fall within Article 30 but Article 110
Mutually exclusive - Afrons Lutticke
Explain Payment for a Service Rendered
Payment for a specific service actually rendered to the importer and in proportion to that service from being lawful
Commission v Italy
Statistical Levy case
Importer must benefit
Bresciani
- was a CEE
- inspection was for general public not service to the importer
Commission v Belgium
Must be done at the request of the importer
Explain Bresciani
Levy to cover the cost of compulsory veterinary inspections on animal products in Italy
Imposed in general interest of the public so NOT service to the importer
So it was a CEE
The cost of the inspections should have been met by the general public as it was the public as a whole who benefitted from the inspections, not the importer.
Explain Commission v Belgium (customs warehouses)
Must be done at the request of the importer
charges on goods deposited in customs warehouses situated in the interior of Belgium.
The Court held that a charge for the temporary storage of goods in the warehouses at the request of the importer was not a CEE as this was a charge for a service.
the levying of the storage charge on goods presented by the importer at the warehouses solely for the purpose of undergoing compulsory customs clearance operations there, even when the goods were exempt from storage and the importer had not requested that they be placed in storage, was a CEE as it was not a charge for a service
Explain inspections
Must be inspection required by EU law
Bresciani
Commission v Germany (Animal Inspectors)
- was required under a Directive
4 Requirements
- must not exceed actual costs
- must be obligatory and uniform for relevant products
- must be prescribed by EU law
- Must promote the free movement of goods
Explain Commission v Germany (Animal Inspectors)
a fee to cover the costs of veterinary inspections on imported live animals
Required under a Directive
Explain Commissions v Netherlands
About inspections
> where the obligation to inspect had been imposed on all Member States by an international treaty which was designed to encourage the free movement of goods
What is Article 110?
Prevents discriminatory internal taxation
1) No MS shall impose directly or indirectly on the products of other MS any internal taxation of any kind in excess of that imposed directly or indirectly on similar domestic products
2) No MS shall impose on the products of other MS any internal taxation of such a nature as to afford indirect protection to other products
Which taxes are regulated by Article 110?
‘a general system of internal dues applied systematically to categories of products in accordance with objective criteria irrespective of the origin of the products’
Commission v France - Reprographic Machinery
What happened in Dansk Denkavit ? What case can you contrast this with ?
Gave a definition of the type of taxes which are covered by Article 110A
Part of an internal system of dues as the levy was also imposed on domestic products using the same criteria
– charge levied to fund the cost of checking samples of imported foodstuffs containing additives was not a CEE
Contrast with Bresciani
- inspections on animal products
- this was a CEE
- charges were not applied according to the same criteria and at the same stage of production
What happened in Reprographic Machinery ?
Defined CEE
> a charge which is applied systematically to categories of products irrespective of the origin of the products will be governed by Article 110
> levy on machinery such as photocopiers
> only 1% of equipment into the market was produced in France - 99% was imported
>
A (good tax) is a general system of internal dues applied systematically to categories of products irrespective of origin
- Art 110 taxes:
- general system of internal dues
- applied systematically in accordance with same criteria
- to domestic and imported products alike
What are the requirements for Article 110(1)?
Goods must be similar
Must be discrimination (direct or indirect)
Similar Goods Test
Article 101(1) Whether, at the same stage of production or marketing, the products had similar characteristics and met the same needs from the point of view of consumers
Rewe-Zentrale
Commission v Denmark
John Walker
Cases in Similar Goods Test
Commission v Denmark
- grapewine v fruitwine
- similar as produced the same / met the same needs from consumers
John Walker
- whisky v fruit liquor
- production different
organoleptic properties different
