Case C‑44/15

Hauptzollamt Frankfurt am Main

v

Duval GmbH & Co. KG

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesfinanzhof)

‛Reference for a preliminary ruling — Customs union and Common Customs Tariff — Tariff classification — Combined Nomenclature — Position 9025 — Concept of ‘thermometer’ — Indicators of exposure to a predetermined target temperature to be used on one occasion only’

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Ninth Chamber), 26 November 2015

1. Customs union — Common Customs Tariff — Classification of goods — Criteria — Characteristics and objective properties — Scope — Use of the product — Included — Condition

2. Customs union — Common Customs Tariff — Tariff headings — Interpretation — Explanatory Notes to the Combined Nomenclature — Obligation for those notes to comply with the provisions of the Combined Nomenclature

3. Customs union — Common Customs Tariff — Tariff headings — Indicators of exposure to a predetermined target temperature to be used on one occasion only — Classification under heading 9025 of the Combined Nomenclature

   (Council Regulation No 2658/87, as amended by Regulation No 1549/2006, Annex I, position 9025)

4. Customs union — Common Customs Tariff — Tariff headings — Classification of goods — Criteria — Heading which provides the most specific description preferred to headings providing a more general description

1.  See the text of the decision.

   (see paras 23, 25)

2.  See the text of the decision.

   (see paras 24, 32)

3.  Heading 9025 of the Combined Nomenclature set out in Annex I to Regulation No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff, as amended by Regulation No 1549/2006, must be interpreted as covering ambient temperature indicators made of paper, in some circumstances covered with plastic film, such as the goods at issue in the main proceedings, which, by the effect of a change in colour, indicate, irreversibly and without the possibility of subsequent re-use, whether one or more threshold temperatures have been reached.

   It is apparent from the wording of that heading that it covers in particular ‘thermometers’.

   Although the Combined Nomenclature does not define that concept, it must be noted that, according to the accepted meaning of the word, it refers to temperature measuring instruments, as is moreover shown, in numerous language versions of the Combined Nomenclature, by the combination of the words of Greek origin which make it up.

   The goods referred to above are, on the basis of their objective characteristics and properties, designed to be used exclusively as temperature measuring instruments.

   The fact that those goods are made of paper and possibly covered with plastic film and that they function more simply than certain other measuring instruments which make use of more sophisticated mechanisms, or the fact that they allow only measurement of certain predetermined threshold temperatures, or, further, the fact that they cannot be used on more than one occasion in the light of the irreversibility of the marking which takes place where such threshold temperatures are reached, do not preclude those goods from being classified under heading 9025 of the Combined Nomenclature.

   (see paras. 26, 27, 30, 36, 40, operative part)

4.  See the text of the decision.

   (see para. 38)