Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
(c) Goods in transit
Although the 2003 Regulation was designed primarily to prevent infringing
goods from entering or leaving the customs territory of the Community, it also
applied to goods in external transit (ie goods passing through Community
customs territory on their way from one non-Member State to another
non-Member State). The Customs Regulation similarly applies to goods in
transit. This issue has been addressed in a number of ECJ decisions.
7.85
7.86
In
The Polo/Lauren Company LP v Pt Dwidua Langgeng Pratam International
Freight Forwarders
, the European Court of Justice held that this extended
coverage was justified by the risk that goods entering the Community under the
external transit procedure may be fraudulently diverted onto the single mar-
ket.
51
7.87
The question of goods in internal transit through the EU to be placed on a
market in a non-Member country was considered by the ECJ in Case C-115/
02,
Rioglass and Transremar
,
52
which concerned goods lawfully manufactured in
Spain and detained in France on suspicion of infringement of trade marks in the
course of their transport to Poland. The Cour de Cassation applied for a
preliminary ruling as to whether Art 28 EC precluded the implementation of
procedures for detention by customs authorities in a Member State of goods
lawfully manufactured in Spain which were intended, following their transport
through another Member State, to be placed on the market in a non-member
country. The ECJ answered the question in the affirmative and, in doing so,
observed :
25. With respect to trade marks, it is settled case-law that the specific subject-matter of
a trade mark is, in particular, to guarantee to the owner that he has the exclusive
right to use that mark for the purpose of putting a product on the market for the
first time and thus to protect him against competitors wishing to take unfair
advantage of the status and reputation of the trade mark by selling products illegally
bearing it (see, in particular, Case 16/74
Centrafarm
[1974] ECR 1183, paragraph
8, Case 102/77
Hoffmann-La Roche
[1978] ECR 1139, paragraph 7, and Case
C-349/95
Loendersloot
[1997] ECR I-6227, paragraph 22).
26. The implementation of such protection is therefore linked to the marketing of the
goods.
27. Transit, such as that in issue in the main proceedings, which consists in transport-
ing goods lawfully manufactured in a Member State to a non-member country by
passing through one or more Member States, does not involve any marketing of the
51
Case C-383/98 [2000] ECR I-2519 (ECJ), para 34.
52
[2003] ECR I-12705.
