Request for a preliminary ruling from the Corte suprema di cassazione (Italy) lodged on 21 March 2014 — Malvino Cervati, Società Malvi Sas di Cervati Malvino v Agenzia delle Dogane, Agenzia delle Dogane — Ufficio delle Dogane di Livorno

(Case C-131/14)

2014/C 194/13

Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Corte suprema di cassazione

Parties to the main proceedings

Appellants: Malvino Cervati, Società Malvi Sas di Cervati Malvino

Respondents: Agenzia delle Dogane, Agenzia delle Dogane — Ufficio delle Dogane di Livorno

Question referred

On a proper construction of Regulations No 1047/2001 (1) and No 2988/95, (2) is conduct such as that engaged in by Community operator A (Malvi sas) prohibited, and does it constitute an abuse of law and conduct designed to evade tax, where Community operator A (Malvi sas) — a company which does not hold an import licence or which has exhausted its own quota share — purchases certain consignments of goods from another Community operator B (Tonini Roberto & C sas), which in turn has purchased them from a third-country supplier (Bananaservice srl), the goods being transferred as foreign stocks to another Community operator C (L’Olivo Maria) — a company which holds a licence under the quota because it meets the requisite criteria — which, without transferring its own licence, releases the goods for free circulation in the European Union in order to transfer them, after customs clearance and in return for appropriate remuneration, lower than the specific duty for imports outside the quota, to operator B (Tonini Roberto & C sas), which finally sells them to operator A (Malvi sas)?

(1)  Commission Regulation (EC) No 1047/2001 of 30 May 2001 introducing a system of import licences and certificates of origin and establishing the method for managing tariff quotas for garlic imported from third countries (OJ 2001 L 145, p. 35).

(2)  Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the protection of the European Communities financial interests (OJ 1995 L 312, p. 1).