Separate goods or accessories for tariff classification purposes: assessments by the Court of Justice of the EU

The Court of Justice of the EU, while interpreting the provisions of the Combined Nomenclature (CN), has repeatedly emphasized that the main criteria determining the tariff classification of goods are normally understood as the objective characteristics and properties of those goods listed in the particular CN heading and specific CN section or chapter notes. However, goods with independent characteristics and a clear purpose of use, cannot be considered as accessories of other related goods and must be classified as separate (independent) goods. For this purpose, the article discusses the recent case law of the CJEU, which allows distinguishing between separate goods or accessories of goods for the purposes of tariff classification and complements the previous clarifications on these issues.