Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association and others v Government of Ireland and others; Martin Doyle and others v An Taoiseach and others (36/80, 71/80)

Judgment of 10 Mar 1981

law://eu/cjeu/1980/c-36-80/para_1@2026-11-13

1.In April 1979 the Government of Ireland adopted a number of orders imposing a temporary excise duty of 2% on the chargeable value of the following products :(a) fresh milk (from 1 May to 31 December 1979);(b) live domestic bovine animals (from 1 May to 31 December 1979);(c) cereals (wheat, oats and barley) (from 1 August to 31 December 1979);(d) sugar beet (from 1 August to 31 December 1979).Subject to certain exceptions, the duty was applicable at the time of delivery to national products delivered for processing, storage or export. The duty did not apply to imported products except for imported bovine animals which had been in Ireland for more than 14 days, which were regarded as domestic cattle.The exceptions related to the first 5000 imperial gallons of milk, contaminated animals and sugar beet cultivated in certain counties and delivered to a specified refinery.The duty, which was paid to the Revenue Commissioners, was payable either by the exporter or the processing undertaking (slaughterhouses, creameries, sugar factories and mills) or by the storage undertaking as follows: by the owners of premises at the end of each month, and by exporters in principle before exportation was carried out.As regards milk, cattle and cereals, the chargeable value was regarded as being the price which the product would fetch on a sale in the open market between a buyer and a seller independent of each other. For sugar beet on the other hand the chargeable value was to be taken to be the actual price paid by the buyer.If the exporter or the owner of the processing undertaking had bought the product he might in principle either deduct from the price payable to the seller a sum equal to the amount of the duty or recover that amount as a contractual debt. If the person accountable for the duty did not become the owner of the product, for example because he was merely rendering a service, he might recover the amount of the duty from the owner of the product.As regards the collection of the duty imposed on exporters, the latter could opt for the use of the form and procedure laid down by Council Directive 78/453/EEC of 22 May 1978 on the harmonization of provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action concerning deferred payment of import duties or export duties with reference to monetary compensatory amounts. As regards owners of undertakings, they were required to apply to the Revenue Commissioners for a licence which was granted them on certain conditions such as, for example, the duty to provide certain information for checking purposes.

Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association and others v Government of Ireland and others; Martin Doyle and others v An Taoiseach and others (36/80, 71/80)

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