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Do you still remember the request for a preliminary ruling submitted by the D\u00fcsseldorf Fiscal Court (FG D\u00fcsseldorf) to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) concerning the import of a used Mercedes from Russia via Poland into Germany? I reported on this in Schlagbaum issue 10\/2024<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The proceedings were based on the following facts: the Russian claimant, resident in Germany, purchased a used Mercedes in Russia from a Russian national on 27 January 2023 for 5,000,000 Russian roubles. The vehicle was registered to the claimant as keeper in Russia in February 2023. He drove the vehicle himself to Poland on 11 May 2023, from where it was transported to Germany on a trailer without number plates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the import declaration had been filed, the Main Customs Office seized the vehicle on 28 August 2023 and declared the customs declaration invalid, citing the import ban. At the time of import, vehicles falling under heading 8703 of the Combined Nomenclature (CN) were already listed in Annex XXI. All goods on this list are subject to an import ban under Article 3i(1) of Regulation (EU) No 833\/2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his objection and in the court proceedings, the claimant argued that it should additionally have been examined whether the goods in question generated significant revenues for Russia and thereby enabled it to destabilise the situation in Ukraine, since Article 3i(1) of Regulation (EU) No 833\/2014 uses this wording. However, the purchase of the vehicle from a private individual had not generated any revenue for the Russian state that would have enabled it to destabilise the situation in Ukraine. The seller had not even had to pay tax in Russia on the purchase price received. The amount of the purchase price was also not significant in relation to Russia’s war expenditure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The D\u00fcsseldorf Fiscal Court then referred two interesting questions to the CJEU:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “1. Is Article 3i(1) of Regulation (EU) No 833\/2014 concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia’s actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine \u2026 to be interpreted as meaning that the prohibition on the import or introduction of the goods listed in Annex XXI applies only where it can be established that the goods in question generate significant revenues for Russia and thereby enable actions by Russia that destabilise the situation in Ukraine? <\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. In the event that the first question referred is answered in the negative: Is Article 3i(3ad) of Council Regulation (EU) No 833\/2014 of 31 July 2014 concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia’s actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine \u2026 to be interpreted as meaning that the registration thereby permitted of a vehicle which was located in the territory of the Union on 19 December 2023 also applies to a motor vehicle which does not fall under Article 3i(3ab) or (3ac) of Regulation (EU) No 833\/2014 and whose import or introduction into the Union is prohibited under Article 3i(1) of Regulation (EU) No 833\/2014, and whether the competent customs authority must lift the seizure of the vehicle in question despite this prohibition?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n