23.2.2008

Official Journal of the European Union

C 51/18

(Case C-314/06)

(Directive 92/12/EEC - Excise duties - Mineral Oils - Losses - Exemption from tax - Force majeure)

(2008/C 51/29)

Language of the case: French

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Société Pipeline Méditerranée et Rhône (SPMR)

Defendant: Administration des douanes et droits indirects, Direction nationale du renseignement et des enquêtes douanières (DNRED)

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Cour de cassation (France) — Interpretation of Article 14(1) of Council Directive 92/12/EEC of 25 February 1992 on the general arrangements for products subject to excise duty and on the holding, movement and monitoring of such products (OJ 1992 L 76, p. 1) — Exemption from duty provided for in respect of losses occurring under suspension arrangements which are attributable to fortuitous events or Force majeure and in respect of losses inherent in the nature of the products during production and processing, storage and transport — Applicability of that exemption to the loss of petroleum products resulting from leaks from and then the bursting of a pipeline operated by the approved warehousekeeper

Operative part of the judgment

1.‘Force majeure’ within the meaning of the first sentence of Article 14(1) of Council Directive 92/12/EEC of 25 February 1992 on the general arrangements for products subject to excise duty and on the holding, movement and monitoring of such products, as amended by Council Directive 94/74/EC of 22 December 1994, refers to abnormal and unforeseeable circumstances extraneous to the authorised warehousekeeper, the consequences of which, despite the exercise by him of all due care, could not have been avoided. The requirement that the circumstances must be extraneous to the authorised warehousekeeper is not limited to those circumstances which are outside his control in a material or physical sense, but refers also to circumstances which are objectively outside the authorised warehousekeeper's control or situated outside his sphere of responsibility.

2.Losses of part of petroleum products which escaped from a pipeline, caused by the fact that those products were in a liquid state and the type of soil they spilled on prevented their recovery, cannot be regarded as ‘inherent in the nature of the products’ within the meaning of the second sentence of Article 14(1) of Directive 92/12, as amended by Directive 94/74.

(1) OJ C 224, 16.9.2006.