Judgment of the Court 28 April 1988

In Case 170/86 REFERENCE to the Court under Article 177 of the EEC Treaty by the Finanzgericht (Finance Court) Hamburg for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that Court between

THE COURT composed of: G. Bosco, President of Chamber, acting as President, O. Due and J. C. Moitinho de Almeida (Presidents of Chambers), T. Koopmans, U. Everling, K. Bahlmann, Y. Galmot, C. Kakouris, R. Joliét, T. F. O'Higgins and F. Schockweiler, Judges, Advocate General: Sir Gordon Slynn Registrar: H. A. Rühi, Principal Administrator

after considering the observations submitted on behalf of Georg von Deetzen, the plaintiff in the main proceedings, by A. Nutzhorn, Rechtsanwalt, Oldenburg, the Council of the European Communities, by A. Bräutigam, Principal Administrator in the Council's Legal Department, acting as Agent, the Commission of the European Communities, by its Legal Adviser D. Booss, acting as Agent, and by Mr Cless, expert,

having regard to the Report for the Hearing and further to the hearing on 29 September 1987,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General delivered at the sitting on 13 January 1988,

gives the following

Judgment

Costs

1 Language of the Case: German.