Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1 Acts of the institutions - Application ratione temporis - Procedural rules - Application to proceedings pending at the time when they enter into force

2 Own resources of the European Communities - Post-clearance recovery of import duties or export duties - Reference of cases to the Commission - Scope of the Commission's decision-making power

(Commission Regulation No 2454/93, Arts 871 and 873)

3 Origin of goods - Preferential tariff arrangements - Post-clearance verification of the origin of goods - Origin incapable of determination - Consequences

(Commission Regulation No 2454/93, Art. 871)

4 Own resources of the European Communities - Post-clearance recovery of import duties or export duties - Criteria for waiver of recovery laid down in Article 5(2) of Regulation No 1697/79 - `Error made by the competent authorities themselves' - Meaning

(Council Regulation No 1697/79, Art. 5(2))

Summary

5 Procedural rules are generally held to apply to all proceedings pending at the time when they enter into force, whereas substantive rules are usually interpreted as not applying to situations existing before their entry into force.

6 Articles 871 and 873 of Regulation No 2454/93 laying down provisions for the implementation of Regulation No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code confer on the Commission a decision-making power, in particular where the competent authorities consider that the criteria for waiving post-clearance recovery of customs duties are fulfilled. That decision-making power is designed to ensure the uniform application of Community law. The machinery for referring cases to the Commission would be rendered pointless if the Commission were required to adhere to the views expressed by the customs authorities in the request submitted to it by them. None the less, that decision-making power in no way permits the Commission to disregard the right of the person liable to waiver of the post-clearance recovery of customs duties where, having completed its examination of the matter, it concludes that the criteria entitling the undertaking to the benefit of that waiver of recovery are fulfilled.

7 Where a subsequent verification of imports effected under preferential tariff arrangements does not confirm the origin of the goods as stated in the EUR.1 certificate, it must be concluded that the goods are of unknown origin and that the EUR.1 certificate and the preferential tariff were thus wrongly granted.

Consequently, where the Commission is called upon to determine whether the customs authorities of a Member State are required to carry out post-clearance recovery of import duties, it is entitled to conclude that the file submitted to it is complete and that there is no need for it to seek additional information before making its decision if the authorities of the exporting State have informed the authorities of the importing State that the exporter is unable to prove that the goods in question originated from the territory of the exporting State and neither the authorities of the importing State nor the importers have contested the conclusion that those goods are of unknown origin.

8 In accordance with the very wording of Article 5(2) of Regulation No 1697/79 on the post-clearance recovery of import duties or export duties, the legitimate expectations of the person liable warrant the protection provided for in that article only if it was the competent authorities `themselves' which created the basis for those expectations. Thus, only errors attributable to acts of the competent authorities confer entitlement to the waiver of post-clearance recovery of customs duties. That condition cannot be regarded as fulfilled where the competent authorities have been misled - in particular as to the origin of the goods - by incorrect declarations on the part of the exporter whose validity they do not have to check or assess. Moreover, the person liable cannot entertain a legitimate expectation with regard to the validity of EUR.1 certificates by virtue of the fact that they were initially accepted by the customs authorities of a Member State, since the role of those authorities in regard to the initial acceptance of declarations in no way prevents subsequent checks from being carried out.