22As the Court has held on a number of occasions, the justification for the prohibition of customs duties and any charges having an equivalent effect lies in the fact that any pecuniary charge, however small, imposed on goods by reason of the fact that they cross a frontier, constitutes an obstacle to the movement of goods which is aggravated by the resulting administrative formalities. It follows that any pecuniary charge, whatever its designation and mode of application, which is imposed unilaterally on goods by reason of the fact that they cross a frontier and is not a customs duty in the strict sense constitutes a charge having an equivalent effect to a customs duty within the meaning of Articles 23 EC and 25 EC, even if it is not imposed on behalf of the State (see, inter alia, Case 158/82 Commission v Denmark [1983] ECR 3573, paragraph 18; and Case 18/87 Commission v Germany [1988] ECR 5427, paragraph 5).
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