ECJ Customs – Joined cases C-415/20, C-419/20, C-427/20 – Opinion – Payment of interest in case of refund

On January 13, 2022, the ECJ issued the AG Opinion in the joined cases C-415/20, C-419/20, C-427/20 related to Customs.

Context: References for preliminary rulings — Repayment of amounts collected by a Member State in breach of EU law — Payment of interest — Customs union — Article 241 of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 (Community Customs Code) — Article 116(6) of Regulation (EU) ) No 952/2013 (Union Customs Code) — Restrictions on the payment of interest in the event of a refund of customs duties — Principle of effectiveness — National measures providing for the payment of interest from the date of judicial review’

AG Opinion

Case C‑415/20

1) The Union law obligation of the Member States to reimburse duties collected in breach of Union law with interest applies where the reason for the repayment is not that the Court of Justice of the European Union has found that Union law has been infringed, but that the Court has interpreted a heading (subdivision) of the Combined Nomenclature.

(2) The principles of the right to interest developed by the Court apply to the payment of export refunds refused by the competent national authorities in breach of EU law.

Case C‑419/20

EU law is infringed – which is a precondition for the EU law right to payment of interest recognized by the Court of Justice of the European Union – when the competent national authorities levy a charge in accordance with EU law, but a national court subsequently finds that the factual conditions for this.

Case C‑427/20

EU law is infringed – which is a precondition for the EU law right to interest payment developed by the Court of Justice of the European Union – when the competent national authorities levy a charge in violation of legally valid provisions of EU law and a national court Union law.

Source Curia