Judgment of the Court (Seventh Chamber) of 18 July 2007.#Op- en Overslagbedrijf Van der Vaart BV v Staatssecretaris van Financiën.#Reference for a preliminary ruling: Hoge Raad der Nederlanden - Netherlands.#Common Customs Tariff - Tariff classification - Combined Nomenclature - Product obtained from curdled milk and the extraction of a significant quantity of serum.#Case C-402/06.

Subject of the case

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling – Hoge Raad der Nederlanden – Interpretation of Annex I to Commission Regulation (EC) No 1734/96 of 9 September 1996 amending Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff (OJ 1996 L 238, p. 1) – Product obtained from curdled milk and extraction of most of the serum containing not more than 2% of whey-albumin that has been broken down by the activity of an enzyme added during a drying process lasting 24 to 36 hours.

Operative part

Operative part:

1. Heading 0406 of the Combined Nomenclature, set out in Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff, as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1734/96 of 9 September 1996, must be construed in such a way that it can accommodate the classification of a product, such as that in issue in the main proceedings, obtained from curdled milk from which a great deal of the serum has been extracted and the albumin content of which has been reduced, by the effect of an enzyme, to 2% of the total quantity of the albumins during a drying process lasting 24 to 36 hours and consisting of casein and more than 50% humidity.

2. Subheading 0406 20 90 of the Combined Nomenclature must be construed in such a way that it can accommodate a product, such as that in issue in the main proceedings, which contains more than 50% humidity and less than 1% fat and is ground into regular granules of 2 to 4 mm in size and is intended for use in the manufacture of pizza toppings and in the preparation of cheese sauces.