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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.

In the European governance the EU legislation distinguishes between the so called “formal law” and the “informal law”. The latter also known as measures of soft law. Formal law compromises regulations, … directives and decisions, whereby recommendations and opinions, as well as other methods of developing policy: e.g. policy guidelines are considered soft law. Practical examples of informal law in the field of customs are the Guidelines for Customs Valuation of Goods, the Customs Valuation Compendium, the Transit Guide. What is the significance of these documents in practice?

In the EU, the “simplification for the determination of amounts being part of the Customs value of the goods” under the transaction value method allows operators to avoid the burden of a two-step … declaration – i.e. a simplified declaration followed by a supplementary declaration – and to finalise Customs valuation declarations without delay in situations where there is no risk for the collection of import duties. Such simplifications are becoming increasingly relevant given the growing number of value elements, such as royalties or commissions, that cannot be quantified at the time of importation.

Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) took another decision regarding customs valuation and adjustment of transaction value. In this decision CJEU analysed legal importance of compensation … paid for the right to exclusively distribute goods. CJEU concluded that such compensation was the condition of sale and thus must be reflected in the customs value of goods. The fact that compensation was agreed on in a separate contract (not in a sale-purchase agreement) and that it was limited in time did not change conclusions of the CJEU. It is yet another signal for the importers to carefully examine all the payments between them and the seller and evaluate their possible influence on customs value of imported goods.

The judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union has answered the question of whether goods made partly of tobacco and other materials should be subject to excise duty on tobacco in … its entirety or only in part of the composition of the tobacco as one of the consisting substances.

Both in the practice of tax disputes and during tax inspections or investigations carried out by the customs authorities, the following question arises quite often: which particular person the … customs authorities are entitled to qualify as the debtor and, accordingly, to calculate (to that or another particular person) the additional import taxes. In this article, we will review the provisions of the EU Union Customs Code (UCC) and the relevant case-law of the EU Court of Justice (CJEU), which helps to answer these questions and allows businesses to defend their rights and legitimate interests in disputed situations.

On 25 September 2020, the European Commission has published a new version of the Guidance on Customs Valuation. Although this document is not legally binding, it is considered an important tool … for the interpretation of the EU customs legislation. The guidance aims to ensure a common understanding between customs and economic operators and to provide a tool to facilitate the correct and harmonized application of customs legislation in the Member States. The guidance is expected to be included in the EU Customs Valuation Compendium in 2021.

Court of Justice of European Union (CJEU) remained with its position that the economic value of software should be added to the transaction value of imported goods, despite the fact that it was … designed in the European Union and transferred to the third-country manufacturer free of charge.

Adam Smith, author of “The Wealth of Nations”, wrote that Customs duties have been “in use for time immemorial”. To a large extent, this assertion is correct. The practice of taxing commerce … is as old as commerce itself. And where a tax must be collected, there will be disputes over rates and methods.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the entry into force of the WTO Customs Valuation Agreement (CVA). The Agreement seeks to tackle Customs clearance delays resulting from valuation verification … and to ensure that the Customs value of goods entering a market are properly assessed to reflect the actual price of the goods as agreed between the buyer and seller.

A significant amount of work has been done over the last 15 years on “convergence” of income tax transfer pricing (TP) and Customs valuation. Both income tax and Customs rules seek the same result, … ensuring that prices between related parties are “at arm’s length,” set as if the parties were unrelated. But the rules are different. Income tax TP rules in the majority of countries are based on guidelines established by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD. Customs valuation principles are established in the WTO Valuation Agreement (Agreement). Moreover, the revenue collection focal points of tax and Customs administrations are different: a high transfer price generally results in a high duty, but low income tax; a low transfer price results in lower duties and higher income taxes.

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the WCO have a history of long and close co-operation in the area of Customs valuation. As the institutional representative of more than 45 million … businesses in over 100 countries, ICC has been participating as an Observer in the meetings of the Technical Committee on Customs Valuation since 1979. In that time, the ICC Observer delegation has had the opportunity to explain specific aspects of commercial practice in terms of their influence on Customs valuation, as well as to engage with Customs representatives on specific technical issues. In this article, ICC highlights some of the challenges and questions arising from implementation of valuation rules, highlighting the important work of the Technical Committee.

Advance rulings relating to the determination of tariff classification and origin of goods are already established in several countries, but few have implemented such a system in the field of … Customs valuation. Such rulings do not determine or confirm the actual Customs value of a particular consignment but indicate the treatment to apply to certain elements of the Customs value. In this article, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) explains the processes and procedures relating to this powerful trade facilitation tool which benefits both the administration and trade operators.

It has now been established by the supreme judicial authority, that it is possible to amend the customs declaration subsequently, even with regard to the information relating to the identity … of the declarant. However, with some limitations, which we point out in the overview of the recent judgement of the European Court of Justice.

Europos Sąjungos Teisingumo Teismas (ESTT) tikslina savo išaiškinimus dėl licencinių mokesčių ir autorinių atlyginimų įtraukimo į importuojamų prekių muitinę vertę. Prieš kelis metus šio teismo … priimtas sprendimas GE Healthcare (C-173/15) byloje sukėlė daugiau klausimų, nei pateikė atsakymų – atrodė, kad bet kokia net menka licencinių mokesčių sąsaja su importuotomis prekėmis turi būti išskaičiuota ir pridėta prie prekių vertės skaičiuojant importo mokesčius. Šį kartą teismas kiek susiaurino ir sukonkretino savo išaiškinimus: nurodė „pakankamai glaudaus ryšio“ kriterijus bei licencinių mokesčių, kaip būtinosios pardavimo sąlygos, požymius. Tokie išaiškinimai leis importuotojams aiškiau vykdyti savo prievoles ir numatyti licencinių mokesčių taikymo pasekmes.

The goal of the EU law on customs valuation is to introduce a fair, uniform, and neutral system excluding the use of arbitrary or fictitious customs values. The customs value must therefore reflect … the real economic value of an imported product and take into account all of the elements of that product that have economic value. In this article we are going to review how the Bulgarian courts apply the provisions related to customs valuation, more specifically, to the inclusion of royalties in the customs value of the goods.

National courts often make use of the possibility to seek a preliminary ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The Supreme Court of the Republic of Latvia recently raised … a very technical question, which, however, concerns the general interpretation of a provision of the Combined Nomenclature of the EU regarding classification of the copper alloy ingots. The article overviews the case and its importance for the uniform tariff classification of goods in the EU Member States.

In this article, by evaluating the latest case law of the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania (Order of 27 May 2020 in Administrative Case No. eA-2474-968 / 2020, etc.), we will review … how the provisions of WTO law in national courts have been (and are) applied in the Republic of Lithuania in tax disputes with customs authorities and what are the possibilities for relying directly on them to defend the rights and legitimate interests of the taxpayers.

The article seeks to identify legal issues related to the implementation of economic activities in maritime areas by analyzing the customs law of the European Union (EU) and its regulations (Union … Customs Code (UCC) and the regulations related to its implementation) defining the boundaries of the EU customs territory, determining the customs origin of goods and describing the order of the customs procedures. The author also presents suggestions on how the identified legal issues should be addressed by amending EU customs legislation and what are the tax risks associated with them.