Judgment of the Court (Seventh Chamber) of 9 July 2020 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Varhoven administrativen sad — Bulgaria) — Direktor na Teritorialna direktsiya Yugozapadna Agentsiya ‘Mitnitsi’, the successor in law to Mitnitsa Aerogara Sofia v ‘Curtis Balkan’ EOOD

(Case C-76/19) (1)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Customs union - Community Customs Code - Article 32(1)(c) - Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 - Article 157(2), Article 158(3), and Article 160 - Determining the customs value - Adjustment - Royalties relating to the goods being valued - Royalties constituting a ‘condition of sale’ of the goods being valued - Royalties paid by the buyer to its parent company for the supply of the know-how required for the manufacture of the finished products - Goods purchased from third parties, which constitute components to be incorporated in the licensed products)

(2020/C 287/08)

Language of the case: Bulgarian

Referring court

Varhoven administrativen sad

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Direktor na Teritorialna direktsiya Yugozapadna Agentsiya ‘Mitnitsi’, successor in law to Mitnitsa Aerogara Sofia

Defendant:‘Curtis Balkan’ EOOD

Operative part of the judgment

Article 32(1)(c) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code, read in conjunction with Article 157(2), Article 158(3) and Article 160 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 of 2 July 1993 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92, must be interpreted as meaning that a proportion of the royalties paid by a company to its parent company in consideration for the supply of know-how for the manufacture of finished products must be added to the price actually paid or payable for imported goods in circumstances where those goods are intended to be included, along with other component parts, in the composition of those finished products and are purchased by the former company from sellers separate from the parent company, where

—	the royalties were not included in the price actually paid or payable for those goods;

—	they relate to the imported goods, which presupposes that there is a sufficiently close link between the royalties and those goods;

—	the payment of royalties is a condition of the sale of those goods, so that, had it not been for that payment, the contract of sale relating to the imported goods would not have been concluded and, consequently, they would not have been delivered; and

—

it is possible to make an appropriate apportionment of the royalties based on objective and quantifiable data, which is for the referring court to ascertain, taking into account all the relevant facts, in particular the relationships of law and of fact between the buyer, the respective sellers and the licensor.

---

(1)  OJ C 155, 6.5.2019.