EU Court of Justice concludes that the European Commission has exceeded its powers when adopting delegated legislation concerning non-preferential rules of origin

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that the “Change of Tariff Heading” (CTH) rule, which determines the non-preferential origin of goods imported into the EU, as laid down in the European Commission’s Union Customs Code Delegated Act, can be deemed invalid in the light of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union and the UCC.
Non-preferential rules of origin (ROO) are used to determine the country of origin of products for the application of policy measures such as anti-dumping duties, trade embargoes, and other measures set up to safeguard the EU internal market.
The ECJ concluded that the CTH rule does not comply with the main rule concerning non-preferential origin, as a change of a 4-digit CN heading solely indicates the substantial nature of processing or working.
This case represents an interesting example of the ECJ concluding that the European Commission has exceeded its powers when adopting delegated legislation.