Official Journal of the European Union

C series

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C/2024/6066

21.10.2024

Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 5 September 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Augstākā tiesa (Senāts) – Latvia) – Pārtikas drošības, dzīvnieku veselības un vides zinātniskais institūts ‘BIOR’ v Valsts ieņēmumu dienests

(Case C-344/23,

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Customs union - Common Customs Tariff - Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009 - Relief from import duties - Article 46 - Tags intended for the marking of fish - Concept of ‘scientific instrument or apparatus’ - Tariff classification - Combined Nomenclature - Subheadings 3926 90 92 and 3926 90 97 )

(C/2024/6066)

Language of the case: Latvian

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Pārtikas drošības, dzīvnieku veselības un vides zinātniskais institūts ‘BIOR’

Defendant: Valsts ieņēmumu dienests

Operative part of the judgment

1.Article 46(a) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009 of 16 November 2009 setting up a Community system of reliefs from customs duty

must be interpreted as meaning that tags which are plastic coated or made from polyethylene rods and which, by virtue of their technical design and functioning, serve, as such, as a scientific research tool, in that they are attached to live fish in order to observe their migration and growth, do not fall under the concept of ‘scientific instruments’, within the meaning of that provision.

2.The Combined Nomenclature set out in Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff, as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 254/2000 of 31 January 2000, in the version resulting from Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1925 of 12 October 2017,

must be interpreted as meaning that tags which are plastic coated or made from polyethylene rods and which are attached to live fish for the purposes of scientific research fall under subheading 3926 90 97 of that nomenclature, on the condition, however, that those tags are either composed exclusively of ‘plastics’ within the meaning of Note 1 of Chapter 39 of that nomenclature, or that the plastic gives them their essential character, if they are mixtures or composite goods consisting of different materials or made up of different components, within the meaning of General rule 3(b) for the interpretation of that nomenclature, which cannot be classified by reference to point (a) of that general rule.

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Language of the case: Latvian

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/6066/oj

ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)

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(<span class="oj-super">1</span>) Language of the case: Latvian.