ECJ: when is a product a ‘container’ in customs law sense?

Recently, the Court of Justice of the European Union issued a judgment relevant to the question of when there is a ‘container’ for the transport of goods. The judgment concerns a classification issue regarding the classification of a transport system.

Facts

The reason for this judgment was a request for a preliminary ruling regarding the classification of a carrier profile transport system (‘TubeLock transport system’), developed by Global Gravity ApS, (hereinafter: GG). The system consists of a certain number of sets of aluminium support profiles between which the tubes to be transported are placed at right angles to each other, those support profiles being interconnected by two steel support rods equipped with eyelets, so that further tubes can then be placed on top according to the same process until the number of tubes to be transported is loaded, after which the loading is completed by attaching steel slings to the support rods at each of the four corners, in order to facilitate easy handling. The system is called “TubeLock” and is suitable for repeated use. At the time of entry, it is still in an unassembled state.