ECJ 1. The prohibition on the levying of charges having an effect equivalent to customs duties, whether it has its origin in the general rule contained in article 13 of the treaty with effect from 1 january 1970, at the end of the transitional period, or in the special provision of article 12 of regulation no 14/64 with effect, as regards the products referred to by the regulation, from 1 november 1964, has a direct effect in the relations between the member states and their subjects throughout the community as from the date pro- vided for the implementation of the provisions in question.
2. The interpretation which, in the exercise of the jurisdiction conferred upon it by article 177 of the eec treaty, the court of justice gives to a rule of community law clarifies and defines where necessary the meaning and scope of that rule as it must be or ought to have been understood and applied from the time of its coming into force. It follows that the rule as thus interpreted must be applied by the courts even to legal relationships arising and established before the judgment ruling on the request for interpretation, provided that in other respects the conditions enabling an action relating to the application of that rule to be brought before the courts having jurisdiction are satisfied.
It is only exceptionally that the court may, in application of the general principle of legal certainty inherent in the community legal order and in taking account of the serious effects which its judgment might have, as regards the past, on legal relationships established in good faith, be moved to restrict for any person concerned the opportunity of relying upon the provision as thus interpreted with a view to calling in question those legal relationships.
3. It is the courts of the member states, applying the principle of cooperation laid down in article 5 of the eec treaty, which are entrusted with ensuring the legal protection which subjects derive from the direct effect of the provisions of community law.
4. In the absence of community rules concerning the contesting or recovery of national charges which have been unlawfully demanded or wrongfully levied by reason of their incompatibility with community law it is for the domestic legal system of each member state to designate the courts having jurisdiction and determine the procedural conditions governing actions at law intended to safeguard the rights which subjects derive from the direct effect of community law, it being understood that such conditions cannot be less favourable than those relating to similar actions of a domestic nature and that under no circumstances may they be so adapted as to make it impossible in practice to exercise the rights which the national courts have a duty to protect.
However, community law does not require an order for the recovery of charges improperly levied to be granted in conditions such as would involve an unjustified enrichment of those entitled. There is therefore nothing from the point of view of community law to prevent national courts from taking account, in accordance with their national law, of the fact that it has been possible for charges unduly levied to be incorporated in the prices of the undertaking liable for the charge and to be passed on to purchasers.
5. The system of protection which subjects have as a result of the direct effect of the provisions of community law in conjunction with the special features of national laws which govern in the various member states matters of form and substance in relation to recovering national taxes which have been paid in contravention of community law cannot be regarded as incompatible either with articles 9, 12, 13, 92, 93 and 95 of the EEC Treaty or, in a more general way, with the principles of community law relating to the free movement of goods, the establishment of a system ensuring that competition within the common market is not distorted or the prohibition of discrimination in tax matters.
Citations:
R-826/79, [1980] EUECJ R-826/79
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Jurisdiction:
European
European
Updated: 01 October 2022; Ref: scu.214930