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	Číslo (Kód CELEX): Number (CELEX Code):		61993J0495

	Název: Title:		JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (FIFTH CHAMBER) OF 14 SEPTEMBER 1995. MARIA SIMITZI V DIMOS KOS. REFERENCE FOR A PRELIMINARY RULING: DIOIKITIKO PROTODIKEIO RODOU - GREECE. FREE MOVEMENT OF GOODS - TAX REGIME OF THE DODECANESE - CHARGE HAVING AN EFFECT EQUIVALENT TO A CUSTOMS DUTY - TEMPORAL EFFECTS OF A PRELIMINARY RULING. JOINED CASES C-485/93 AND C-486/93.

	Publikace: Publication:		European Court Reports 1995 page I-2655

	Předmět (klíčová slova): Keywords

	Související předpisy: Corresponding acts:

	Odkaz na souvisejicí judikáty: Corresponding Judgements:		Case 24/68 Commission v Italy [1969] ECR 193 · Legros Case C-163/90 Legros and Others [1992] ECR I-4625 · Lancry Joined Cases C-363/93 and C-407 to 411/93 René Lancry SA and Others [1994] ECR I-3957 · Barber Case C-262/88 Barber v Guardian Royal Exchange [1990] ECR I-1889


	Plný text: Fulltext:		Ne

Fakta:
In 1991 and 1992, Mrs Simitzi imported goods into the island of Kos. Kos is an island belonging to the Dodecanese, a group of islands situated at the south-eastern end of the Aegean Sea, which was administered by Italy until 1946. Local Decrees adopted by the Italian administration in 1938 and 1939 provided for the charging of a duty (‘dazio di consumo’: consumption duty) on consumer goods entering or leaving the Dodecanese and authorized the municipalities of the Dodecanese to collect it. Following the incorporation of the Dodecanese into Greece, that communal tax was maintained in force by a series of Greek legislative provisions in order to provide the Dodecanese local authorities with financial resources. At the material time, the communal tax on imports was set at 4 % of the value of the imported goods, the communal tax on exports was set at 1 % of the value of the goods exported. It was charged on all goods imported into or exported from the Dodecanes region, irrespective of their origin or destination and thus applied to Greek goods as well.
Acting on said legislation, the local authorities ordered Mrs Simitzi to pay the taxes due and to pay a fine for infringement of the tax legislation. Mrs Simitzi brought two actions asking for annulment or amendment of the underlying decisions. The Monomeles Diikitiko Protodikio (Single-Judge Aministrative Court of First Instance) and the Trimeles Diikitiko Protodikio (Three-Judgem Administrative Court of First Instance), Rhodes (Greece), seised of the cases, stayed the proceedings and under Article 177 of the Treaty referred to the Court the questions (1) whether the aforementioned import charge and (2) the export charge constitute charges having an equivalent effect to, respectively, import or export duties, notwithstanding the fact that those charges are also imposed on goods entering that territory from another part of the same State; (3) whether the legislation providing for such charges is compatible with Community law; (4) whether such charges are permissible under Community law if they are levied solely on goods entering one region of a Member States territory from other regions of the same State and on goods despatched from one region of the Member State solely to other regions of the same State and (5) whether said charges are compatible with Council Directive 77/388/EEC
Of 17 may 1977 on the harmonization of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes - Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment (OJ 1977 L 145, p. 1).
.

Názor soudu a komentář:
“[I]f follows from the customs union system provided for by the Treaty, in particular Articles 9, 12,
Article 9 (1) provides:
“The Community shall be based upon a customs union which shall cover all trade in goods and which shall involve the prohibition between Member states of customs duties on iimports and exports and of all charges having an equivalent effect, and the adoption of a common customs tariff in their relation with third countries.”
Article 12 provides:
“Member States shall refrain from introducing between themselves any new customs duties on imports and exports or any charges having equivalent effect and from increasing those which already apply in their trade with each other.”
13 and 16, and from the general and absolute nature of the prohibition of all customs duties applicable to goods moving between Member States that customs duties are prohibited regardless of the purpose for which they were introduced and the destination of the revenue from them. (…) [A]ny pecuniary charge which is imposed unilaterally on domestic or foreign goods by reason of the fact that they cross a frontier, and which is not a customs duty in the strict sense, constitutes a charge having an equivalent effect, within the meaning of Articles 9, 12, 13 and 16 of the Treaty, even if it is not imposed for the benefit of the State and is not discriminatory in effect.” ( Case 24/68).
Under these principles, the Court had already ruled in a prior judgement (
Legros
) that “a charge proportional to the customs value of goods, levied by one Member State on goods imported from another Member State by reason of their entry into a region of the territory of the first Member State, constituted a charge having an effect equivalent to a customs duty on imports, notwithstanding the fact that the charge was also imposed on goods entering that region from another part of the same State”. The fact that the charge in the present case was - other than in
Legros
- imposed on all goods, not merely on imported goods, and the fact that the charge was imposed with the aim of giving the region a source of income rather than excluding products from other Member States does not warrant a different ruling: Such charges nonetheless “hamper the interpenetration sought by the Treaty and thus have an effect on the free circulation of goods equivalent to that of a customs duty”.
These principles, originally established with respect to import duties, by way of analogy also apply to export duties. Such duties are incompatible with Article 9
et seq.
of the Treaty.
With regard to the fourth question, the Court points out that it had already in a prior ruling interpreted Article 9 of the Treaty so as to also apply to customs duties and the like which are applied within a Member State and are imposed on goods which enter one particular region of that State (
Lancry
). This ruling applies to export duties as well as import duties.
Since the duties in question are thus already incompatible with the Treaty, the Court finds no need to inquire into their compatibility with Directive 77/388.
Upon a request of the Greek Government, the Court goes on to examine the possibility of restricting the temporal effect of its judgement. The Greek Government contended that before the date of the judgement uncertainty existed as to the actual scope of charges having equivalent effect before the date of the judgements in
Legros
and
Lancry
and that a retroactive effect of the judgement would have serious financial consequences. The Court has consistently held that in principle, owing to the objectivity of the law, its judgements interpreting Community law also applied retroactively. However, in exceptional circumstances, the Court has limited the temporal effect of its judgements if the parties concerned could reasonably rely on a divergent interpretation and if the retroactive effect would result in serious financial consequences (see in particular
Barber
). The Court finds that the charge at issue in this case is of the same kind as that concerned in
Legros
. “Until 16 July 1992 [the date of the
Legros
judgement], therefore, the Hellenic Republic could reasonably believe that the duty in
question was in question was in conformity with Community law.” The Court restricts the temporal effect of the present judgement accordingly.

Shrnutí (Summary of the Judgment):

Plný text judikátu (Entire text of the Judgment):