«(Community Customs Code – Customs debt on import – Removal of goods from customs supervision)»

Customs union – Customs debt on import incurred following removal from customs supervision of goods liable to import duty – Meaning of removal – Transfer to the customs office at the point of exit of non-Community goods subject to the customs warehousing procedure and intended for re-export without being placed under the external transit procedure – Included (Council Regulation No 2913/92, Art. 203(1)) Article 203(1) of Regulation No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code is to be interpreted as meaning that there is removal from customs supervision for the purposes of that provision when, before the entry into force of Regulation No 993/2001 amending Regulation No 2454/93 laying down provisions for the implementation of Regulation No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code, non-Community goods which were subject to the customs warehousing procedure and intended for re-export from the customs territory of the Community have been removed and transported from the customs warehouse to the customs office at the point of exit without having been placed under the external transit procedure and the customs authorities have been unable, if only for a short time, to ensure customs supervision of those goods.see para. 36, operative part

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Second Chamber) 12 February 2004 (1)

((Community Customs Code – Customs debt on import – Removal of goods from customs supervision))

In Case C-337/01,

REFERENCE to the Court under Article 234 EC by the Bundesfinanzhof (Germany) for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between

and

on the interpretation of Article 203(1) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code (OJ 1992 L 302, p. 1),

THE COURT (Second Chamber),,

composed of: V. Skouris, acting for the President of the Second Chamber, R. Schintgen (Rapporteur) and N. Colneric, Judges,

Advocate General: A. Tizzano,

after considering the written observations submitted on behalf of:

having regard to the Report for the Hearing,

after hearing the oral observations of Hamann International GmbH Spedition + Logistik, represented by M. Zitzmann, of the Hauptzollamt Hamburg-Stadt, represented by T. Cirener, acting as Agent, and of the Commission, represented by J.-C. Schieferer, at the hearing on 5 February 2003,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 12 June 2003,

gives the following

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or

in cases other than those referred to in Article 203 unless it is established that those failures have no significant effect on the correct operation of the temporary storage or customs procedure in question.

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On those grounds,

THE COURT (Second Chamber),

in answer to the question referred to it by the Bundesfinanzhof by order of 17 July 2001, hereby rules:

Skouris

Schintgen

Colneric

Delivered in open court in Luxembourg on 12 February 2004.

R. Grass

V. Skouris

Registrar

President