Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 16 July 2009 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Hof van Cassatie van België -Belgium) — Distillerie Smeets Hasselt NV v Belgische Staat, Louis De Vos, Bollen, Mathay & Co BVBA, liquidator of Transterminal Logistics NV, Daniel Van den Langenbergh and Firma De Vos NV; Belgische Staat v Bollen, Mathay & Co. BVBA, liquidator of Transterminal Logistics NV; and Louis De Vos v Belgische Staat

(Case C-126/08) (1)

(Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 - Community Customs Code - Post-clearance recovery of import or export duty - Entry in the accounts of the amount of duty - Entry in the accounting records or on any other equivalent medium - Act of recording equivalent to entry in the accounts - Delivery of a copy of the record equivalent to communication of the amount of duty legally owed)

2009/C 220/15

Language of the case: Dutch

Referring court

Hof van Cassatie van België

Parties to the main proceedings

Appellants: Distillerie Smeets Hasselt NV, Belgische Staat, Louis De Vos

Respondents: Belgische Staat, Louis De Vos, Bollen, Mathay & Co. BVBA, liquidator of Transterminal Logistics NV, Daniel Van den Langenbergh, Firma De Vos NV

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Hof van Cassatie van België — Interpretation of Articles 217(1) and 221(1) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code (version in force in 1992) (OJ 1992 L 302, p. 1) — Post-clearance recovery of import or export duties — Whether or not the amount of the duty owed must be entered in the accounts before being communicated to the person liable for payment — ‘[Entry] in the accounting records or on any other equivalent medium’

Operative part of the judgment

Article 217 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code must be interpreted as meaning that Member States can provide that the entry in the accounts of the amount of duty resulting from a customs debt may be effected by the entry of that amount on a record which is drawn up by the competent customs authorities and establishes an infringement of the applicable customs legislation.

(1)  OJ C 142, 07.06.2008.