Case C‑80/15

Robert Fuchs AG

v

Hauptzollamt Lörrach

(Request for a preliminary ruling

from the Finanzgericht Baden-Württemberg)

‛Reference for a preliminary ruling — Customs union — Common Customs Tariff — Temporary importation procedure with relief from duties — Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 — Conditions laid down for the total relief from import duties — Means of transport for aviation registered outside of the customs territory of the Union and used by a person established outside of that territory — Article 555(1)(a) — Commercial use — Concept — Use of helicopters by an aviation school for remunerated training flights flown by a trainee and instructor — Not included’

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Tenth Chamber), 28 July 2016

1. Customs union — System of temporary importation with relief from duties — Means of transport for aviation — Conditions for admission — No commercial use — Concept of commercial use — Use of helicopters for remunerated training flights — Not included

   (Commission Regulation No 2454/93, as amended by Regulation No 2286/2003, Arts 555(1)(a) and 558(1))

2. Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Jurisdiction of the Court — Limits — Examination of the compatibility of national law with EU law — Not included — Providing the national court with full guidance on the interpretation of EU law — Included

   (Art. 267 TFEU)

1.  Article 555(1)(a) of Regulation No 2454/93 laying down provisions for the implementation of Regulation No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code, as amended by Regulation No 2286/2003, must be interpreted as meaning that remunerated flights for helicopter flight instruction, with a trainee pilot and a flight instructor on board, are not to be regarded as constituting commercial use of a means of transport for the purposes of that provision.

   Regulation No 2286/2003 not only removed from the concept of commercial use the non-remunerated transport of persons, but also made the purpose of the use the determining factor. Therefore, that concept no longer covers all economic activities involving a means of transport and which includes transport of persons in the broad sense, but concerns only those whose purpose is the transport, inter alia, of persons. In circumstances where the means of transport is used for training purposes, the transport of persons, if it took place, is only the corollary of the training activity which, as the main purpose of the contract, is the provision of services in return for which the trainee pilots have paid.

   (see paras 34, 35, 43, operative part)

2.  See the text of the decision.

   (see para. 39)