Articles

On 13.06.2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued a decision in the Baltic Master case (C-599/20) on two relatively unrelated issues. The first, whether customs must establish … an objective legal relationship between the buyer and the seller in order to consider them as related persons. The second, whether customs can rely on the value of a single comparable transaction found on the national customs valuation information system (IS), denying the acceptance of the declared value of the goods (air conditioning units). In this article, we discuss interpretations provided by the CJEU; and we look forward for the national verdict of the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania (SACL).

Customs administration shall exercise due care in analysing the facts, gathering information and evidence for the use of each of the alternative methods for determining the customs value. This … includes the duty of the customs authorities to consult all the information sources and databases available to them. Are customs authorities obliged to check information systems maintained by the EU? May identical or similar imports (which have not been challenged) of the same trader be excluded? What is the period, in which identical or similar imports are considered to be ‘made at the same or around the same time’? We look at the CJEU's answers to these questions.

According to Article 18 of the Union Customs Code (UCC), the customs representative may carry out customs formalities by direct or indirect representation. Regardless of the method of representation … chosen, the representation contract remains a mandate contract, which obliges the importer to guarantee the customs representative the payment of import duties and taxes incurred by the operation. The choice of the mode of representation, on the other hand, is important when the importer has disappeared (or become insolvent) and has left the customs representative alone to deal with customs. Indeed, if the representative has acted as an indirect representative, the administration can claim payment of the entire debt from him... except perhaps in the case of VAT, because, according to the CJEU, solidarity in VAT matters is not automatically established.

In business practice, the customs authorities often recover from the traders (business entities) (or sometimes – refuse to pay to these persons) various duties, charges, levies, or sanctions … administered by them, even though such recovery or refusing to pay them at the later date may be declared illegal, contrary to the EU law, e.g. by national courts. Accordingly, in such a situation the question arises whether such wrongly recovered and/or paid sums (customs duties, other charges, penalties) administered by the customs authorities in the EU Member States must be repaid together with additionally calculated interest for the period during which the person concerned was unlawfully deprived of the relevant sums of money? The article analyses how such issues should be addressed in the light of recent case law of the European Court of Justice (CJEU).

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) examined a case, the goal of which was to clarify the tariff position that covers a runny and golden-brown product with a strong smell of vanilla, … consisting of approximately 85% ethanol, 10% water, 4.8% dry residue and having an average vanilla content of 0.5% (the Goods), and whether the Goods of such composition shall be exempt from excise duty on alcohol. The CJEU had to clarify whether the Goods are classified as vegetable extracts, extracted oleoresins or a mixture thereof. It was also necessary to comment on the interpretation of ‘flavouring’, which is not defined in either the Combined Nomenclature (CN) or Council Directive 92/83/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the harmonization of the structures of excise duties on alcohol and alcoholic beverages (Directive 92/83).

‘Compliance’ with statute law has given rise to a lot of publications and debates. However, when considering compliance, it should not be forgotten that case law also influences a company’s organisation … and processes. Can you think of any court cases which are having an effect on your internal operations? Using the current proceedings on ‘reimbursement interest’ as an example, this contribution shows that court rulings can influence customs practice in companies and so it is important that you follow court proceedings from the outset. This is because even pending proceedings may enable you to earn money with customs or at least avoid throwing it away. Court judgements do not always operate to the detriment of the economic participant.

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.

In this article, we overview a recent judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union concerning tariff classification of goods. The product is 'bamboo beakers' made of plant fibers (72,33% … by weight) and melamine resin (25,2% by weight), the latter gives the product its shape and strength. The questions raised: how are headings 3924 and 4419 of the Combined Nomenclature to be interpreted for the classification of this product; whether GIR 3 (a) ('heading which provides the most specific description') or GIR 3 (b) ('the material which gives the goods their essential character') should be applied.

Place of origin of import VAT obligation - the final destination of the goods entering the territory of the Union or entering the economic circulation of the Union? This question was further … explored and answered by the Court of Justice of the European Union.

It often happens that customs declarations are incorrectly filled out. Such errors are not necessarily intentional and are often nothing more than carelessness. The question in such cases is … whether it is possible to amend the customs declaration retrospectively and how. Whereas it is accepted it is possible to go back and correct particulars about the goods and their value, the customs administration has generally not allowed the customs declarant to be amended in this way. Among the reasons cited is that the relevant court judgements have also rejected such an amendment. We now have two recent judgements which deal with this question of the retrospective amendment of the customs declarant. How helpful are these judgements in practice?

EU Member States import a significant amount of timber, timber products, and sawn timber from Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. Therefore, the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union … in a recent case, in which the issue of tariff classification of sawn timber (boards) was examined, may be relevant for many businesses.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) examined a case regarding the determination of the customs value of imported goods (technical sulfuric acid). The question was raised whether … customs authorities were entitled to add transport costs to the transaction price if, under the Incoterms DAF terms agreed between the parties, the transport costs were already included in the transaction price but actually exceeded it.

In this article, we review the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), in which the goods relevant at this time of year are examined, namely tariff classification of spot-on … solution for cats against fleas and ticks. One of the questions raised was whether permission to place a product on the market as a veterinary medicinal product means that the product should be classified as a medicinal product in the Combined Nomenclature.

Is the banknote validator classified as an office machine or as a measuring or checking instrument? The situation is interesting in that two Binding Tariff Information (hereinafter – BTI) decisions … have been taken on identical goods. According to one of them, this product falls in CN heading 8472 (office machines), while according to the second decision, it is CN heading 9031 (measuring or checking instruments). The Commission classified the product under heading 8472 of the CN by means of an Implementing Regulation. Is such classification correct and valid? The Court of Justice of the European Union (hereinafter – CJEU) answered the question and provided clarification.

In tax disputes with customs authorities, the question often arises as to whether a person in respect of whom a customs debt is calculated can be regarded as a customs debtor. This issue is particularly … evident in cases where the person concerned did not import the taxable goods himself, but only indirectly or directly contributed to their importation. While in the European Union (EU) such issues are mainly regulated and covered by the Union Customs Code, in practice the implementation of EU customs law differs in various EU Member States, which sometimes even adopt their own national laws in this area. With this in mind, the article discusses the latest practice in Lithuania and the position of its national courts whether such an expansive interpretation of the concept of customs debtor is possible and in which cases.

‘The aircraft tractor’ hauls an undamaged vehicle - the rate of the duty is higher than it hauls a broken-down vehicle! The correct classification of goods is important for the proper and correct … payment of customs duties.