Europa 1. Customs duties – elimination – purpose (EEC treaty, articles 9, 12) 2. Customs duties – elimination – charges having equivalent effect – concept – identity in the treaty and in the regulations – national taxation and charges having equivalent effect – distinction (EEC treaty, articles 9, 12, 95) 3. Customs duties – elimination – creation of new charges prohibited – absolute nature of such prohibition (EEC treaty, articles 9, 12). 1. Customs duties are prohibited independently of any consideration of the purpose for which they were introduced and the destination of the revenue obtained therefrom. 2. (A) any pecuniary charge, however small and whatever designation and mode of application, which is imposed unilaterally on domestic or foreign goods when they cross a frontier, and which is not a customs duty in the strict sense, constitutes a charge having equivalent effect within the meaning of articles 9, 12, 13 and 16 of the treaty, even if it is not imposed for the benefit of the state, is not discriminatory or protective in effect or if the product on which the charge is imposed is not in competition with any domestic product. (B) the regulations relating to the common organization of the agricultural markets are not intended to confer on the concept of a charge having equivalent effect a scope different from that which it has within the framework of the treaty itself, especially as, when those regulations take account of the particular conditions for establishing a common market in agricultural products, they pursue the same objectives as articles 9 to 13 of the treaty which they implement. 3. (A) the prohibition of new customs duties or charges having equivalent effect, linked to the principle of the free movement of goods, constitutes a fundamental rule which, without prejudice to the other provisions of the treaty, does not permit of any exceptions. (B) it follows from articles 95 et seq. That the concept of a charge having equivalent effect does not include taxation which is imposed in the same way within a state on imported products and similar domestic products, or which falls, in the absence of comparable domestic products, within the framework of taxation of this nature within the limits laid down by the treaty. The rendering of specific service may in certain cases warrant the payment of a free in proportion to the service actually rendered.
Citations:
C-24/68, [1969] EUECJ C-24/68
Links:
European, Customs and Excise
Updated: 20 May 2022; Ref: scu.131974
