Case C‑262/15

GD European Land Systems — Steyr GmbH

v

Zollamt Eisenstadt Flughafen Wien

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Verwaltungsgerichtshof)

‛Reference for a preliminary ruling — Common Customs Tariff — Classification of goods — Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 — Combined Nomenclature — Heading 8710 and Subheading 9305 91 00 — Note 3 to Section XVII and point (c) of note 1 to Chapter 93 — Tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles — Military weapons — Classification of a turret system’

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Ninth chamber), 26 May 2016

  1. Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Jurisdiction of the Court — Limits — Classification of goods under tariff headings in the Common Customs Tariff

    (Art. 267 TFEU)

  2. Customs union — Common Customs Tariff — Tariff headings — Turret system imported and used for the production of armoured fighting vehicles — Classification under heading 8710 — Condition — Turret system ‘principally’ for use in armoured fighting vehicles — Verification by the national court — Requirement not met — Classification under subheading 9305 91 00 of the Combined Nomenclature

    (Council Regulation No 2658/87, as amended by Regulation No 1001/2013, Annex I, heading 8710 and subheading 9305 91 00)

  1.  See the text of the decision.

    (see paragraph 27)

  2.  The Combined Nomenclature in Annex I to Regulation No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and the Common Customs Tariff, in the version resulting from Implementing Regulation No 1001/2013, must be interpreted as meaning that a turret system, which was imported for the production of armoured fighting vehicles and was indeed used subsequently for that purpose, comes under heading 8710 of that Combined Nomenclature if it is ‘principally’ intended for use on an armoured fighting vehicle, this being a matter for the national court to determine on the basis of the objective characteristics and properties of the turret system, without the end use to which it is put in the case at hand being determinant for the purpose of its classification. If that is not the case, that turret system must be classified, as a part or accessory of a ‘military weapon’, under subheading 9305 91 00 of the Combined Nomenclature.

    (see paragraph 44 and operative part)