BOSCH v HAUPTZOLLAMT HILDESHEIM

My Lords,

In this case I would not feel justified in asking Your Lordships to adjourn while I consider my Opinion. The question Your Lordships have to decide is too simple and the answer to it too clear.

In paragraph 5 of its Judgment in Case 1/77 ([1977]) ECR 1473) the Court said:

That accorded with what I had myself said on the matter in my Opinion (see [1977] ECR at pp. 1490-91).

The difficulty has arisen because the words and which is only put into effect by the use of those goods were not reproduced in the operative part of the Judgment.

In my opinion however the operative part of a Judgment of this Court should always be interpreted in the light of the reasoning that precedes it.

I am accordingly, like the Commission, of the opinion that the question now referred to the Court by the Finanzgericht should be answered in the sense contended for by the Plaintiff.