Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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1. Tax provisions ° Internal taxation ° Duty such as the Italian national tax on consumption of fresh bananas ° Classification as internal taxation ° Duty limited, following a judgment of the Court, to products imported directly from non-member States ° Consequences ° Classification not changed but removed from the sphere of application of Article 95 of the Treaty

(EEC Treaty, Arts 9, 12 and 95)

2. Common commercial policy ° Levying by a Member State of a protectionist internal tax on products imported directly from non-member States ° Permissible under the rules of the Treaty but must be examined in the light of international agreements between the Community and non-member States

(EEC Treaty, Art. 113)

3. Community law ° Direct effect ° Conflict between Community law contained in agreements, conferring rights on individuals, and a national law ° Obligations and powers of national courts ° Non-application of the national law

Summary

1. A duty such as the national tax on consumption levied on fresh bananas, introduced into the Italian legal system by Law No 986/1964, as amended by Law No 873/1982, where

° it is part of a system of taxes on consumption governed by common tax rules and charged on categories of products irrespective of their origin in accordance with an objective criterion, namely the fact that the product falls into a specific category of goods;

° some of those taxes are charged on products intended for human consumption and the fact that those goods are produced at home or abroad does not seem to have a bearing on the rate, the basis of assessment or the manner in which the tax is levied; and

° the revenue from those taxes is not allocated for a specific purpose but constitutes tax revenue identical to other tax revenue and, like it, helps to finance State expenditure generally in all sectors,

must be regarded as being an integral part of a general system of internal taxation within the meaning of Article 95 of the Treaty and its compatibility with Community law must be assessed on the basis of that article rather than Articles 9 and 12 of the Treaty.

Its legal status as internal taxation is not affected by the fact that, following a judgment of the Court declaring its application of the duty to fresh bananas imported from other Member States incompatible with Article 95, it is levied solely on bananas imported directly from non-member States. That fact is the result of the judgment of the Court and cannot be regarded as the criterion determining the concept of a charge having an effect equivalent to a customs duty on imports. Nor can the tax be considered in isolation from the system of internal taxation of which it forms part.

Since Article 95 is applicable only to products imported from other Member States, a duty such as the tax at issue is not covered by that provision inasmuch as it is applicable to imports of fresh bananas coming directly from non-member States.

2. A duty such as the national tax on consumption levied on fresh bananas, introduced into the Italian legal system by Law No 986/1964, as amended by Law No 873/1982, in so far as it is applicable to fresh bananas imported directly from non-member States and even though its protectionist nature with regard to home-produced table fruit is established, is not incompatible with the spirit and the scheme of Community law as they emerge from the provisions of the EEC Treaty relating to the implementation of the common commercial policy, without prejudice, however, to the application of the provisions of any international agreements that may be in force between the Community and the non-member States from which the bananas come.

It is a matter for the national courts, after seeking, if necessary, a preliminary ruling from the Court on the interpretation of the provisions of such agreements, to determine whether they are of a nature effectively to prohibit the levy of the duty in question.

3. In so far as a national law introducing a duty such as the national tax on consumption levied on fresh bananas, introduced into the Italian legal system by Law No 986/1964, as amended by Law No 873/1982, is considered to be incompatible with provisions of Community law contained in agreements, conferring rights on individuals, that law must be disregarded by national courts since, in such a case, the individuals concerned are not required to pay the duty in question.