This document is an excerpt from the EUR-Lex website
Document 62025TA0194
Case T-194/25, Scrap-Transporteur: Judgment of the General Court (Second Chamber, sitting with five Judges) of 29 April 2026 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesfinanzhof – Germany) – Hauptzollamt A v Scrap-Transporteur (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Taxation – Excise duties – Excise duty applied to manufactured tobacco – Smoking tobacco – Concept of tobacco capable of being smoked without further industrial processing – Article 5(1)(a) of Directive 2011/64/UE – Scraps of raw tobacco, uncut but threshed and stripped, capable of being processed into water-pipe tobacco through a complex process carried out at home by the consumer)
Case T-194/25, Scrap-Transporteur: Judgment of the General Court (Second Chamber, sitting with five Judges) of 29 April 2026 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesfinanzhof – Germany) – Hauptzollamt A v Scrap-Transporteur (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Taxation – Excise duties – Excise duty applied to manufactured tobacco – Smoking tobacco – Concept of tobacco capable of being smoked without further industrial processing – Article 5(1)(a) of Directive 2011/64/UE – Scraps of raw tobacco, uncut but threshed and stripped, capable of being processed into water-pipe tobacco through a complex process carried out at home by the consumer)
Case T-194/25, Scrap-Transporteur: Judgment of the General Court (Second Chamber, sitting with five Judges) of 29 April 2026 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesfinanzhof – Germany) – Hauptzollamt A v Scrap-Transporteur (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Taxation – Excise duties – Excise duty applied to manufactured tobacco – Smoking tobacco – Concept of tobacco capable of being smoked without further industrial processing – Article 5(1)(a) of Directive 2011/64/UE – Scraps of raw tobacco, uncut but threshed and stripped, capable of being processed into water-pipe tobacco through a complex process carried out at home by the consumer)
OJ C, C/2026/3063, 15.6.2026, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/3063/oj (BG, ES, CS, DA, DE, ET, EL, EN, FR, GA, HR, IT, LV, LT, HU, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SK, SL, FI, SV)
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Official Journal |
EN C series |
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C/2026/3063 |
15.6.2026 |
Judgment of the General Court (Second Chamber, sitting with five Judges) of 29 April 2026 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesfinanzhof – Germany) – Hauptzollamt A v Scrap-Transporteur
(Case T-194/25, (1) Scrap-Transporteur)
(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Taxation - Excise duties - Excise duty applied to manufactured tobacco - Smoking tobacco - Concept of ‘tobacco capable of being smoked without further industrial processing’ - Article 5(1)(a) of Directive 2011/64/UE - Scraps of raw tobacco, uncut but threshed and stripped, capable of being processed into water-pipe tobacco through a complex process carried out at home by the consumer)
(C/2026/3063)
Language of the case: German
Referring court
Bundesfinanzhof
Parties to the main proceedings
Defendant and appellant on a point of law: Hauptzollamt A
Applicant and respondent in the appeal on a point of law: Scrap-Transporteur
Operative part of the judgment
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1. |
Article 5(1)(a) of Council Directive 2011/64/EU of 21 June 2011 on the structure and rates of excise duty applied to manufactured tobacco, must be interpreted as meaning that the assessment of whether a product is ‘capable of being smoked’ should not be based on the perception of the public. |
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2. |
Article 5(1)(a) of Directive 2011/64 must be interpreted as meaning that the expression ‘without further industrial processing’ encompasses multi-stage methods that consumers can, however, carry out at home. |
ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/3063/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)