Srl CILFIT and others and Lanificio di Gavardo SpA v Ministero della sanità (77/83)

C —Observations of the Commission

The Commission of the European Communities takes the same position as that adopted by the Italian Government. It also emphasizes that Regulation No 827/68 cannot apply, by virtue of Article 38 (3) of the Treaty, to products other than those listed in Annex II to the Treaty. It states that the description in question, as it appears in the Annex to Regulation No 827/68, repeats to the letter the description given in Annex II. Therefore, the Commission considers that the problem raised by the national court is that of determining whether wool falls within heading “05.15 Animal products not elsewhere specified or included” in Annex II to the Treaty.As regards the interpretation of Annex II to the Treaty, the Commission goes on to observe that in its judgment of 25 March 1981 in Case 61/80 Coöperatieve Stremsel [1981] ECR 851 the Court stated that “Since there are no Community provisions explaining the concepts contained in Annex II to the EEC Treaty and that annex adopts word for word certain headings of the Customs Cooperation Council nomenclature, it is appropriate to refer to the said Explanatory Notes in order to interpret that annex”.The Commission adds that, according to Rule 3 (a) of the Explanatory Notes to the above-mentioned nomenclature, the heading which provides the most specific description must take priority over headings providing a more general description, and that it was in application of that principle that the Court took the view in the above-mentioned judgment that the inclusion of a given product of animal origin under a specific heading of the Customs Cooperation Council nomenclature meant that that product did not fall within general heading 05.15. Applying that interpretative criterion, the Commission points out that wool is the subject of a specific chapter in the nomenclature, Chapter 53.In consequence, the Commission proposes that the question submitted by the Italian Corte di Cassazione be answered as follows:“Wool is not included in the products covered by the common organization of the markets established by Regulation (EEC) No 827/68 of the Council of 28 June 1968.”