Politi s.a.s. v Ministry for Finance of the Italian Republic (43/71)

II —Facts and procedure

The facts and procedure may be summarized as follows:1. The Politi undertaking imported:— chilled pigmeat from Sweden on 8 July 1966;— frozen pigmeat and ham from Belgium on 11 August 1966;— fresh and chilled meat and edible offals of domestic swine from France on 16 September 1969;— chilled pigmeat from Ireland on 29 October 1969.For each of these importations it was required to pay:— a duty for administrative services amounting to 0.5 % of the value of the products imported (this being a duty introduced by Italian Law No 330 of 15 June 1950);— a statistical levy at the rate of Lit. 10 per quintal of the imported produces (cf. in particular, Article 42 of both the Decrees of the President of the Italian Republic Nos 1339 of 21 December 1961 and 723 of 26 June 1965)The Politi undertaking considered that these charges should not have been imposed and brought interlocutory proceedings before the President of the Tribunale di Torino against the Ministry for Finance of the Italian Republic for the purpose of obtaining a refund of the sums paid. The undertaking maintains that the provisions of national law in question were not applicable to imports of pigmeat into Italy because they were incompatible with Regulations Nos 20 and 121/67.2. By order of 17 July 1971, the President of the Tribunale di Torino decided to refer the following questions to the Court:1. Do the duty for administrative services and the statistical levy, which were introduced by Law No 330 of 15 June 1950 and the Decrees of the President of the Republic Nos 723 of 26 June 1965 and 1339 of 21 December 1961 respectively constitute charges having an effect equivalent to customs duties within the meaning of Regulation No 20?2.(a) Are the provisions of the first indent to Article 14 (1) of Regulation No 20 directly applicable within the Italian domestic legal system?(b) If so, do they create individual rights which national courts must protect?(c) In particular, did these rights come into existence on 21 April 1962, the date on which Regulation No 20 came into force, or on 1 July 1962, “the date of the introduction of the levy system”, according to Article 23 of that regulation, or on the dates of the entry into force of the various Council regulations which fixed for the first time the amount of the Community levies; that it, on 1 July 1962 for the products listed in Article 1 (1) (a) of Regulation No 20, pursuant to Regulation No 51; on 30 July 1962 for the products listed in Article 1 (1) (b) of Regulation No 20 and referred to in Regulation No 50; on 2 September 1963 for the products listed in Article 1 (1) (b) of Regulation No 20 and referred to in Regulation No 87/63; on 2 September 1963 for the products listed in Article 1 (1) (c) of Regulation No 20, pursuant to Regulation No 89/63?3.(a) Are the provisions of Article 18 (1) of Regulation No 20 directly applicable within the Italian legal system?(b) If so, do they create individual rights which national courts must protect?(c) In particular, did these rights come into existence on 21 April 1962, the date on which Regulation No 20 came into force, or on 1 July 1962, “the date of the introduction of the levy system”, according to Article 23 of that regulation, or on the dates of the entry into force of the various Council regulations which fixed for the first time the amount of the levies applicable to imports from third countries; that is, on 1 January 1963 for live swine and carcasses, pursuant to Regulation No 155; on 2 September 1963 for the products listed in Article 1 (1) (b) other than pig carcasses, pursuant to Regulation No 86/63 and on 2 September 1963 for the products listed in Article 1 (1) (c) of Regulation No 20 pursuant to Regulation No 88/63?4.(a) Are the provisions of the first indent to Article 19'(1) of Regulation No 121/67 directly applicable within the Italian legal system?(b) If so, do they create individual rights which national courts must protect?(c) In particular, did these ngnts come into existence on 1 July 1967 by virtue of the combined provisions of Articles 19 and 32 of Regulation No 121/67?5.(a) Are the provisions of the first indent to Article 17 (2) of Regulation No 121/67 directly applicable within the Italian legal system?(b) If so, do they create individual rights which national courts must protect?(c) In particular, did these rights come into existence on 1 July 1967, either by virtue of Article 32 of Regulation No 121/67 or, at all events, because that date marked the entry into force of Regulation No 205/67 which, pursuant to Regulation No 121/67, fixed for the first time the amount of the levies applicable to imports from third countries.6. Have the individual rights, which correspond to the obligation on the Member States not to impose customs duties or charges having equivalent effect on imports of products covered by the common organization of the market in pigmeat been in continuous existence as from the dates applicable in accordance with Questions (2) and (3)?’It appears from the order making the reference that before the national court the Politi undertaking put forward the following principal considerations:The case-law of the Court shows that the charges in dispute constitute charges having an effect equivalent to customs duties, within the meaning of Articles 9, 12, 13 and 16 of the Treaty. As regards the pigmeat sector, Regulations Nos 20 and 121/67 prohibit the levying of any such charges on imports from both Member States and third countries. The applicant undertaking refers to the judgments of the Court of 4 April 1968(Kunstmühle Tivoli v Hauptzollamt Würzburg, Case 20/67, [1968] ECR 199), 1 July 1969 (Commission v Italian Republic, Case 24/68, [1969] ECR 193 et seq.), 18 November 1970 (same parties, Case 8/70, p. 961 et seq.) and 17 December 1970 (S.p.A. SACE v Ministry for Finance of the Italian Republic, Case 33/70, Rec. 1970, p. 1214 et seq.).The undertaking states that, in accordance with Article 189 of the Treaty and the established case-law of both the Court of Justice and the Italian courts, the provisions of the regulations referred to above confer rights on importers in relation to the Member State concerned.3. The order making the reference was received at the Court Registry on 23 July 1971. In accordance with Article 20 of the Protocol on the Statute of the Court of Justice of the EEC, Politi and the Commission of the European Communities submitted written observations.Upon hearing the report of the Judge-Rapporteur and the views of the Advocate-General, the Court decided that it was unnecessary to hold any preparatory inquiry.At the hearing on 17 November 1971 Politi, the Government of the Italian Republic and the Commission submitted their oral observations.The Advocate-General delivered his reasoned opinion at the hearing on 30 November 1971.Politi was represented by Professor Mario Ubertazzi and Fausto Capelli, of the Milan Bar, the Italian Government by Adolfo Maresca, Minister Plenipotentiary, and Giorgio Zagari, Deputy State Advocate-General and the Commission by its Legal Adviser, Cesare Maestripieri.