Judgment_paragraph 103 · Ricosmos BV v Commission of the European Communities (T-53/02)

103Article 905 of the implementing regulation, the provision which sets out and expands on the rule in Article 239 of the Customs Code, constitutes a general fairness clause intended in particular to cover exceptional situations which, in themselves, do not fall within any of the cases provided for in Articles 900 to 904 of the implementing regulation (Case C-86/97 Trans-Ex-Import [1999] ECR I-1041, paragraph 18). It is clear from Article 905 that repayment of import duties is subject to two cumulative conditions, namely, first, the existence of a special situation and, secondly, the absence of deception or obvious negligence on the part of the economic operator (Case T-282/01 Aslantrans v Commission [2004] ECR II-693, paragraph 53). Accordingly, repayment of duties must be refused if either of those conditions is not met (Case T-75/95 Giinzler Aluminium v Commission [1996] ECR II-497, paragraph 54, and Aslantrans v Commission, paragraph 53).