Case C‑294/14

ADM Hamburg AG

v

Hauptzollamt Hamburg-Stadt

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Finanzgericht Hamburg)

‛Reference for a preliminary ruling — Customs Union and Common Customs Tariff — Community Customs Code — Tariff Preferences — Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 — Article 74(1) — Products originating from a beneficiary country — Transport — Consignments composed of a mixture of crude palm kernel oil originating in several countries benefiting from the same preferential treatment’

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber), 7 April 2016

Customs union — Common Customs Tariff — System of generalised tariff preferences for developing countries — Origin of goods — Determination — Importation in the form of a mixture of consignments of crude palm kernel oil originating in several countries benefiting from the same preferential treatment — Grant of preferential treatment — Conditions

(Commission Regulation No 2454/93, as amended by Regulation No 1063/2010, Art. 74(1))

Article 74(1) of Regulation No 2454/93 laying down provisions for the implementation of Regulation No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code, as amended by Regulation No 1063/2010, must be interpreted as meaning that in a situation where valid certificates of origin have been presented, the preferential origin, within the meaning of the generalised system of preferences established by Regulation No 732/2008, of consignments of crude palm kernel oil may be recognised even where those products have been mixed in the tank of a vessel at the time of their transport to the European Union in circumstances where it is possible to rule out that other products, in particular products not benefiting from any preferential treatment, have been added to that tank.

The creation of a mixture of several products originating in developing countries benefiting from the generalised system of preferences granted by the European Union under its scheme for generalised preferential tariffs introduced by Regulation No 732/2008, at the time of transport, which does not alter the substance of those products and which does not create uncertainty as to the origin of those products, cannot be classified as an alteration, transformation or operation precluding the origin of those products from being recognised in the framework established, inter alia, by Article 74(1) of Regulation No 2454/93.

(see paras 30, 35, operative part)