Judgment_paragraph 45 · Ze Fu Fleischhandel GmbH and Vion Trading GmbH v Hauptzollamt Hamburg-Jonas (C-201/10, C-202/10)

45In those circumstances, acceptance that it is possible for Member States to grant the public service a period within which to act as long as that conferred by a 30-year limitation rule could, in a certain way, encourage inertia on the part of the national authorities in bringing proceedings in respect of ‘irregularities’ within the meaning of Article 1 of Regulation No 2988/95, whilst exposing operators, first, to a long period of legal uncertainty and, secondly, to the risk of no longer being in a position to prove at the end of such a period that the transactions in question were lawful.

Ze Fu Fleischhandel GmbH and Vion Trading GmbH v Hauptzollamt Hamburg-Jonas (C-201/10, C-202/10)

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