(1) Is a finding by the courts of one Member State that prosecution of an offence is time-barred binding on the courts of the other Member States?

By this question, the national court essentially asks whether the ne bis in idem principle, enshrined in Article 54 of the CISA, applies in respect of a decision of a court of a Contracting State by which the accused is acquitted finally because prosecution of the offence is time-barred.

Under Article 54 of the CISA, a person may not be prosecuted in a Contracting State for the same acts as those in respect of which his trial has already been ‘finally disposed of’ in another Contracting State provided that, in the event of conviction, the penalty has been enforced, is actually in the process of being enforced or can no longer be enforced.

The main clause of the single sentence comprising Article 54 of the CISA makes no reference to the content of the judgment that has become final. It is not applicable solely to judgments convicting the accused (see, to this effect, the judgment delivered today in Case C-150/05 Van Straaten [2006] ECR I-9327, paragraph 56).

Thus, the ne bis in idem principle, enshrined in Article 54 of the CISA, falls to be applied in respect of a decision of the judicial authorities of a Contracting State by which the accused is acquitted finally for lack of evidence (Van Straaten, paragraph 61).

The main proceedings raise the question whether the same is true with regard to a final acquittal because prosecution of the offence is time-barred.

It is settled case-law that Article 54 of the CISA has the objective of ensuring that no one is prosecuted for the same acts in several Contracting States on account of the fact that he exercises his right to freedom of movement (see Joined Cases C-187/01 and C-385/01 Gözütok and Brügge [2003] ECR I-1345, paragraph 38, and Van Straaten, paragraph 57). It ensures that persons who, when prosecuted, have their cases finally disposed of are left undisturbed. They must be able to move freely without having to fear a fresh prosecution for the same acts in another Contracting State.

Not to apply Article 54 of the CISA when a court of a Contracting State, following the bringing of criminal proceedings, has made a decision acquitting the accused finally because prosecution of the offence is time-barred would undermine the implementation of that objective. Such a person must therefore be regarded as having had his trial finally disposed of for the purposes of that provision.

It is true that the laws of the Contracting States on limitation periods have not been harmonised. However, nowhere in Title VI of the EU Treaty, relating to police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters (Articles 34 and 31 of which were selected as the legal basis for Articles 54 to 58 of the CISA), or in the Schengen Agreement or the CISA itself is the application of Article 54 of the CISA made conditional upon harmonisation or approximation of the criminal laws of the Member States relating to procedures whereby further prosecution is barred (Gözütok and Brügge, paragraph 32) or, more generally, upon harmonisation or approximation of their criminal laws (see Case C-436/04 Van Esbroeck [2006] ECR I-2333, paragraph 29).

It should be added that there is a necessary implication in the ne bis in idem principle, enshrined in Article 54 of the CISA, that the Contracting States have mutual trust in their criminal justice systems and that each of them recognises the criminal law in force in the other Contracting States even when the outcome would be different if its own national law were applied (Van Esbroeck, paragraph 30).

Framework Decision 2002/584 does not preclude the ne bis in idem principle from applying in the case of a final acquittal because prosecution of the offence is timebarred. Article 4(4) of the framework decision, relied upon by the Netherlands Government in the observations which it submitted to the Court, permits the executing judicial authority to refuse to execute a European arrest warrant inter alia where the criminal prosecution of the requested person is time-barred according to the law of the executing Member State and the acts fall within the jurisdiction of that State under its own criminal law. In order for that power to be exercised, a judgment whose basis is that a prosecution is time-barred does not have to exist. The situation where the requested person has been finally judged by a Member State in respect of the same acts is governed by Article 3(2) of the framework decision, a provision which lays down a mandatory ground for non-execution of a European arrest warrant.

Having regard to the complexity of the main proceedings, it should be pointed out, finally, that it is for national courts to determine whether the acts in respect of which a case has been finally disposed of are the same as those at issue before them.

It follows from the foregoing that the answer to the first question must be that the ne bis in idem principle, enshrined in Article 54 of the CISA, applies in respect of a decision of a court of a Contracting State, made after criminal proceedings have been brought, by which the accused is acquitted finally because prosecution of the offence is time-barred.

(2) Does the acquittal of a defendant on account of the fact that prosecution of the offence is time-barred benefit, by extension, persons being prosecuted in another Member State where the facts are identical? In other words, can persons being prosecuted in another Member State on the basis of the same facts also benefit from a limitation period?

By its second question, the national court essentially asks who is capable of benefiting from the ne bis in idem principle.

It is clear from the wording of Article 54 of the CISA that only persons who have already had a trial finally disposed of once may derive advantage from the ne bis in idem principle.

This interpretation is borne out by the purpose of the provisions of Title VI of the EU Treaty, as set out in the fourth indent of the first paragraph of Article 2 EU, namely ‘to maintain and develop the Union as an area of freedom, security and justice, in which the free movement of persons is assured in conjunction with appropriate measures with respect to ... the prevention and combating of crime’.

Consequently, the answer to the second question must be that the ne bis in idem principle, enshrined in Article 54 of the CISA, does not apply to persons other than those whose trial has been finally disposed of in a Contracting State.

(3) If the criminal courts of one Member State declare that the extra-Community nature of goods has not been established for the purposes of an offence of smuggling and acquit the defendant, may the courts of another Member State broaden the investigation in order to prove that the introduction of goods without payment of customs duties was from a non-member State?

The third question is based on the premiss that the criminal courts of a Member State declare that it has not been established for the purposes of the offence of smuggling that the goods are from outside the Community.

Such a premiss is inconsistent, however, with the facts of the main proceedings as described by the national court and reproduced in paragraphs 16 to 18 of the present judgment.

Admittedly, the majority of the defendants in the main proceedings allege that the national court has misread the judgment of the Supremo Tribunal de Justiça. They contend that, contrary to what is stated in the order for reference, the Supremo Tribunal de Justiça did not find that a lesser quantity than was actually imported into Portugal was declared to the customs authorities. According to them, the criminal proceedings relating to the offences of smuggling and of falsification of documents were declared time-barred by a judicial decision made prior to the commencement of the hearing before the Supremo Tribunal de Justiça. In addition, judgment was given in favour of the defendants on an application for compensation under civil law made in the same proceedings, because the facts alleged were not proved.

It is to be recalled that the system under Article 234 EC is capable of being applied to references for a preliminary ruling pursuant to Article 35 EU, subject to the conditions laid down in the latter article (see Case C-105/03 Pupino [2005] ECR I-5285, paragraph 28). Under the procedure envisaged in Article 234 EC, which is based on a clear separation of functions between the national courts and the Court of Justice, any assessment of the facts in the case is a matter for the national court. The Court of Justice is thus empowered to rule on the interpretation or validity of Community provisions only on the basis of the facts which the national court puts before it (see Case C-235/95 Dumon and Froment [1998] ECR I-4531, paragraph 25, and Case C-421/01 Traunfellner [2003] ECR I-11941, paragraph 21).

In the light of the national court's reading of the judgment of the Supremo Tribunal de Justiça, doubts arise as to the admissibility of the third question.

On such a reading, the premiss upon which the third question is founded, namely the acquittal of the defendants because there was no, or insufficient, evidence that the goods were from outside the Community, is not present.

According to the Court's settled case-law, while the Court is in principle bound to give a ruling where the questions submitted concern the interpretation of Community law, it can in exceptional circumstances examine the conditions in which the case was referred to it by the national court, in order to confirm its own jurisdiction. The Court may refuse to rule on a question referred for a preliminary ruling by a national court only where it is quite obvious that the interpretation of Community law that is sought bears no relation to the actual facts of the main action or its purpose, where the problem is hypothetical, or where the Court does not have before it the factual or legal material necessary to give a useful answer to the questions submitted to it (see, inter alia, Case C-13/05 Chacón Navas [2006] ECR I-6467, paragraphs 32 and 33, and the case-law cited).

Here, having regard to the national court's description of the facts, the third question concerns a hypothetical problem.

Consequently, there is no reason for the Court to answer this question.

(4) Where a criminal court in a Member State has declared either that it is not established that goods have been unlawfully introduced into the Community or that prosecution of the offence of smuggling is time-barred:

(a) can the goods be regarded as being in free circulation in the rest of the Community?
(b) can the sale of the goods in another Member State following their importation into the Member State where the acquittal was given be regarded as independent conduct which may therefore be punished or, instead, as conduct forming an integral part of the importation?’

For the reasons set out in the judgment, the fourth question is inadmissible in so far as it is founded on the premiss of acquittal of the defendants because there was no, or insufficient, evidence. On the other hand, it is admissible in so far as it relates to the situation where a court of a Member State has declared that prosecution of the offence of smuggling is time-barred.

By Question 4(a), the national court essentially asks whether it may be inferred from the decision of a court of a Contracting State which has become final finding that a prosecution for the offence of smuggling is time-barred that the goods in question are in free circulation in the other Member States.

Under Article 24 EC, three conditions must be met in order for products coming from a third country to be considered to be in free circulation in a Member State. Products are regarded as so being if (i) the import formalities have been complied with, (ii) any customs duties or charges having equivalent effect which are payable have been levied in that Member State and (iii) the products have not benefited from a total or partial drawback of such duties or charges.

A finding by a court of a Member State that prosecution of a defendant for the offence of smuggling is time-barred does not alter the legal classification of the products in question.

The ne bis in idem principle binds the courts of a Contracting State only in so far as it precludes a defendant who has already had his case finally disposed of in another Contracting State from being prosecuted a second time for the same acts.

The answer to Question 4(a) must therefore be that a criminal court of a Contracting State cannot hold goods to be in free circulation in national territory solely because a criminal court of another Contracting State has found, in relation to the same goods, that prosecution for the offence of smuggling is time-barred.

Question 4(b)

By Question 4(b), the national court essentially asks whether the marketing of goods in another Member State, after their importation into the Member State where the accused was acquitted because the prosecution was time-barred, forms part of the same acts or constitutes conduct independent of importation into the latter Member State.

The only relevant criterion for applying the concept of ‘the same acts’ within the meaning of Article 54 of the CISA is identity of the material acts, understood as the existence of a set of concrete circumstances which are inextricably linked together (see Van Esbroeck, paragraph 36).

More specifically, a situation such as that at issue in the main proceedings may involve such a set of facts.

However, the definitive assessment in this regard is a matter for the competent national courts which are charged with the task of determining whether the material acts at issue constitute a set of facts which are inextricably linked together in time, in space and by their subject-matter (see Van Esbroeck, paragraph 38).

It follows from the foregoing that the marketing of goods in another Member State, after their importation into the Member State where the accused was acquitted, constitutes conduct which may form part of the ‘same acts’ within the meaning of Article 54 of the CISA.

On those grounds, the Court (First Chamber) ruled:

1. The ne bis in idem principle, enshrined in Article 54 of the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 between the Governments of the States of the Benelux Economic Union, the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic on the gradual abolition of checks at their common borders, signed in Schengen on 19 June 1990, applies in respect of a decision of a court of a Contracting State, made after criminal proceedings have been brought, by which the accused is acquitted finally because prosecution of the offence is time-barred.

2. That principle does not apply to persons other than those whose trial has been finally disposed of in a Contracting State.