1 Common Customs Tariff - Tariff headings - Classification of goods - Criteria - Objective characteristics and properties of the product - Interpretation of tariff headings - Explanatory notes of the Commission and the Customs Cooperation Council - Authority - Scope
2 Common Customs Tariff - Tariff headings - Dried walnut pieces temporarily stored at a temperature of -24o C - Classification in Heading 0802 of the Combined Nomenclature
1 The decisive criterion for the classification of goods for customs purposes is in general to be sought in their objective characteristics and properties as defined in the wording of the relevant heading of the Combined Nomenclature. There are also explanatory notes drawn up, as regards the Nomenclature, by the Commission and, as regards the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System, by the Customs Cooperation Council, which are an important aid to the interpretation of the scope of the various tariff headings but do not have legally binding force.
2 On a proper interpretation of the Combined Nomenclature, dried walnut pieces, imported from a non-member country, which have been stored in the Community at a temperature of -24o C and which, after thawing out, are cleared through customs to be admitted into free circulation must be classified under tariff heading 0802 as `other nuts, fresh or dried, whether or not shelled or peeled'.
According to the introductory notes to chapter 8 of the Nomenclature, chilled fruit and nuts are to be classified in the same headings as the corresponding fresh fruit and nuts, and according to the general considerations in chapter 8 of the Nomenclature of the Customs Cooperation Council, the expression `frozen' means that the product has been cooled to below its freezing point, whereas a `chilled' product is one whose temperature has been reduced without the product being frozen.
However, dried walnuts do not contain water capable of being frozen; also, the treatment applied to those goods did not lead, when the goods were warmed up by raising the storage temperature, to any changes characteristic of freezing.