Opinion of Mr Advocate General Darmon

1. Towards the end of 1978 a German customs office (Zollamt) gave a ruling concerning the tariff classification of certain goods imported from Japan by Telefunken Fernseh und Rundfunk GmbH. The goods consisted of combined tuners, recordplayers and cassette recorders (hereinafter referred to as music centres) imported together with two loudspeakers in a single carton. On the invoices from the Japanese manufacturers the goods were described as follows :

2. In addition to Telefunken and the Commission, the Italian and French Governments have submitted observations in this case.

3. The variety of solutions proposed illustrates the difficulty of the choice which the Court must make. In particular this case requires the Court to specify the legal basis and scope of the functional unit principle.

4. As regards the question whether General Rule A 3 (b) should be applied, I would point out that that question is not raised by the Bundesfinanzhof in its request for interpretation. I would nevertheless add that, even if the goods in question were considered to be a set of goods, that rule contains a clear solution. Goods put up in sets are to be classified according to the material or component which gives them their essential character only if they cannot be classified by reference to Rule A 3 (a), which provides that the heading which provides the most specific description shall be preferred to headings providing a more general description. Loudspeakers are expressly covered by a specific heading.

5. Consequently, I propose that the Court should reply as follows to the Bundesfinanzhof :

1 Translated from the French.