Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) 12 December 1985

In Case 276/84 REFERENCE to the Court under Article 177 of the EEC Treaty by the Finanzgericht Hamburg for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between

THE COURT (First Chamber) composed of: R. Joliét, President of Chamber, G. Bosco and T. F. O'Higgins, Judges, Advocate General : P. VerLoren Van Themaat Registrar: P. Heim

after considering the observations submitted on behalf of: Gebrüder Metelmann GmbH & Co. KG, the plaintiff in the main proceedings, by Mr Landry, of the Hamburg Bar, Hauptzollamt Hamburg-Jonas, the defendant in the main proceedings, by Mr Vester, the Government of the Italian Republic, by Arnaldo Squillante, President of Chamber at the Council of State, Head of the Department for Contentious Diplomatic Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acting as Agent, assisted by Oscar Fiumara, avvocato dello Stato, the Commission of the European Communities, by Bernhard Jansen, a member of its Legal Department, acting as Agent, assisted by Gerhard Lechleitner, Regierungsrat at the Federal German Ministry of Economic Affairs, Bonn, on secondment to the Commission's Legal Department under an exchange programme between national public servants and Community officials,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General delivered at the sitting on 24 October 1985,

gives the following

JUDGMENT

Decision

Costs

1 Language of the Case: German.