Judgment_paragraph 17 · Ministero delle Finanze v Foods Import Srl (C-38/95)

17That conclusion is not in fact in contradiction with the Court's settled case-law to the effect that, in the interests of legal certainty and ease of verification, the decisive criterion for the classification of goods for customs purposes is in general to be sought in their objective characteristics and properties as defined in the wording of the relevant heading of the CCT and of the notes to the sections or chapters (see, in particular, Case C-459/93 Thyssen Haniel Logistic [1995] ECR I-1381, paragraph 8). The species to which a fish belongs is an objective property, defined by the wording of the CCT heading. Moreover, the requirement that the objective characteristics and properties of products must be ascertainable when customs clearance is obtained (Case C-233/88 Van de Kolk [1990] ECR I-265, paragraph 12) does not presuppose that differences between products are apparent. Certain characteristics of a product may be identifiable only microscopically (Case 175/82 Dinter [1983] ECR 969) or by means of sensory analysis (Van de Kolk, cited above). Indeed, a product's classification may depend on the process by which it is manufactured or the geographical origin of some of its constituents, those being characteristics which are not necessarily apparent (Case 40/88 Weber [1989] ECR 1395).