The member states cannot make provision for failures to abide by the obligation to declare large sums of cash entering or leaving their territory to be fined at a level of up to twice the undeclared amount, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled in a judgement returned on Thursday 31 May (case C-190/17).
In 2014, Chinese national Lu Zheng registered his luggage at Gran Canaria airport (Spain) for a flight to Hong Kong (China), stopping in Madrid (Spain) and Amsterdam (Netherlands). In Madrid, the Spanish authorities noted that his luggage contained €92,900 in cash, an amount that had not been declared, contrary to the regulation (1889/2005) on controls on cash entering or leaving the European Union.
The Spanish authorities imposed an administrative fine of €91,900 on him, as Spanish law provides for failures to abide by declaration obligations to attract fines of up to twice the amount not declared.
Zheng, who considered that the level of the fine was disproportionate, challenged it before the Spanish court, which asked the Court of Justice whether the Spanish rules were in line with EU law.
In its judgement, the Court reiterates that in the framework of the freedom of movement of capital, permissible administrative or law-enforcement measures must be commensurate to the gravity of the infringements they aim to punish. It considers that under the principle of proportionality, the fine handed down by the Spanish authorities goes beyond what is necessary to guarantee compliance with the declaration obligation. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)