Case C-396/02
DFDS BV
v
Inspecteur der Belastingdienst – Douanedistrict Rotterdam
(Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Gerechtshof te Amsterdam)
(Common Customs Tariff – Combined Nomenclature – Tariff classification – Subheading 8704 10 – ‘Minitrac’ for the transport and dumping of sand, earth and stones with a sophisticated tipping system)
Summary of the Judgment
Common Customs Tariff – Tariff headings – Flatbed vehicle with a sophisticated tipping system – Classification under subheading 8704 10 of the Combined Nomenclature
The fact that a flatbed vehicle is equipped with an intricate, versatile and precise tipping function does not exclude its classification as a dumper within the meaning of subheading 8704 10 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, in the versions resulting from Regulations Nos 3115/94 and 3009/95.
It is clear from the descriptions of such vehicles in the explanatory notes on the Combined Nomenclature and the Harmonised System that an essential characteristic of dumpers is to have a tipping hopper or an opening bottom for the transport of rubble and various materials. There is, by contrast, no indication in those notes that the form or functioning of the tipping hoppers can constitute, by themselves, decisive criteria for the classification of a vehicle as a dumper.
(see paras 32, 37, operative part)
JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Third Chamber)16 September 2004(1)
(Common Customs Tariff – Combined Nomenclature – Tariff classification – Subheading 8704 10 – ‘Minitrac’ for the transport and dumping of sand, earth and stones with a sophisticated tipping system)
v
THE COURT (Third Chamber),,
after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 15 January 2004,
gives the following