Kip Europe SA and Others (C-362/07) and Hewlett Packard International SARL (C-363/07) v Administration des douanes - Direction générale des douanes et droits indirects.
On those grounds, the Court (Third Chamber) hereby rules: 1. Note 5(E) to Chapter 84 of the combined nomenclature constituting Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff, as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1719/2005 of 27 October 2005, is to be interpreted as meaning that only machines incorporating an automatic data-processing machine or working in conjunction with such a machine, whose function is not data processing, perform ‘a specific function other than data processing’. 2. If the copying function performed by the machines at issue in the main proceedings is secondary in relation to the printing and electronic scanning functions, they must be considered units of automatic data-processing machines within the meaning of Note 5(B) to Chapter 84 of the combined nomenclature constituting Annex I to Regulation No 2658/87, as amended by Regulation No 1719/2005, which units, by application of Note 5(C) to that chapter, if they are presented in isolation, fall within heading 8471. In such a case, the relevant subheading must be determined in accordance with Note 3 to Section XVI of the said nomenclature. However, if the importance of that copying function is equivalent to that of the other two functions, those machines must be classified, by application of General Rule 3(b) of the General rules for the interpretation of that nomenclature, under the heading corresponding to the module which gives those machines their essential character. If such identification proved impossible, they must be classified under heading 9009 in accordance with General Rule 3(c). 3. Examination of the fifth questions referred has not raised any factor liable to affect the validity of point 4 of the Annex to Commission Regulation (EC) No 400/2006 of 8 March 2006 concerning the classification of certain goods in the Combined Nomenclature. [Signatures] * Language of the case: French.