Judgment_paragraph 22 · Société Pipeline Méditerranée et Rhône (SPMR) v Administration des douanes et droits indirects and Direction nationale du renseignement et des enquêtes douanières (DNRED) (C-314/06)

22Indeed, according to the fourth recital in the preamble to Directive 92/12, chargeability of excise duties should be identical in all the Member States in order to ensure the establishment and functioning of the internal market. Inasmuch as the meaning of ‘force majeure’ is a factor which is liable to be relevant, in appropriate cases, to determining whether duties are chargeable, it necessarily takes on an independent character and the uniformity of its interpretation in all the Member States must be ensured.