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The European Green Course, presented at the end of 2019, raised new challenges for various business enterprises; however, at the same time, it presented new opportunities. Businesses that cooperate … with customs, such as customs brokers, logistics companies, and companies that export or import goods, are no exception.

There are various methods how you can pay import duties and taxes. One of them – paying through the agent clearing house bank account. What happens if the agent declares insolvency after receipt … of payment – will the importer be required to pay to the State or not? Should the activity of an agent be strictly regulated to prevent situations like this?

An excellent article published in CCRM about one year ago reviewed the main import taxes in Brazil, the EU and Ukraine and the means and basis of calculation. The article demonstrated that, in … some cases, the import taxes exceed the value of the goods themselves, meaning that the taxes are more than 100%. I may comment that, in my view, the State of Israel is kind of a pioneer in this field. In several sectors, Israel imposes very high import taxes, especially on passenger cars, where the taxes exceed the value of a car.

Anti-dumping measures may be applied against imports of a product at an export price below its ‘normal value’ (usually the price of the product in the domestic market of the exporting country) … if such dumped imports cause injury to a domestic industry.

Knowing how provisions of one or another customs and tax legislation are applied, protects business from financial and time losses intended for the resolution of disputes in courts. In this review … of the judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union, we draw attention to the aspects related to excise duty and VAT debt for goods illegally imported into the EU from the third countries - whether it is extinguished together with the import duty debt.

A customs warehouse stored bottled alcohol (vodka). Customs audited the warehouse, took a sample, and found that there was water instead of vodka in the bottles! Customs ordered the warehouse … to pay €308,455 customs debt (import duties and taxes, fines and interest). A dispute arose regarding who must pay the customs debt, as the customs warehouse is not obliged to take samples of the goods. Let's look at the clarification of the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania (SACL) in this case.

In the year 2021, there has been a major breakdown in the customs practices in the EU and the changes will continue over the next years for many reasons: data provisions and data quality will … become the new hobbyhorse for customs authorities, more significant facilitations will be granted to companies who have the AEO status for e-commerce flows, etc. We provide a brief overview of the changes, highlight the role of customs experts in turning challenges into opportunities, and share some thoughts on what is needed to become a member of the big family united under the customs topic.

In the case of the import or export of goods, you will be required to enter one of the following codes in the first subdivision of box 1 of the Single Administrative Document (SAD): IM, EX, EU, … CO. These codes indicate the countries or territories to/from which the consignment is transported and the customs status of the goods. Let’s look at what the codes mean, and in what cases, which code should be used.

Skaitytojo klausimas: Planuojame importuoti prekes iš Kanarų salų. Kadangi Kanarų salos yra Europos Sąjungoje, ar šios prekės turės būti deklaruojamos muitinei, mokami importo mokesčiai? Jei … taip, ką turėtume žinoti apie deklaravimo ir muitinės deklaracijos pildymo ypatumus?

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).

Atstovas muitinėje gali atstovauti klientą muitinėje tiesiogiai arba netiesiogiai. Pastaruoju atveju atstovas yra solidariai atsakingas už skolą muitinei. Europos Sąjungos Teisingumo Teismas … (ESTT) aktualiai išnagrinėtoje byloje atsakė į klausimą, ar netiesioginis atstovas solidariai atsako ne tik už muito, bet ir importo PVM sumokėjimą.

ATLAS-IMPOST was launched in Germany on the customs side in mid-January. Now there is an end to transitional solutions or the transmission of a complete data set for small consignments. For companies, … the electronic customs declaration is to be made via the specially created ATLAS-IMPOST system (import clearance of postal and courier consignments).

In order to stimulate 'thinking outside the box' in the EU debate on the future of the Customs Union, the European Commission has established a Wise Persons Group on Challenges Facing the Customs … Union (WPG) to reflect on four key topics: e-commerce, risk management, the effective management of non-financial tasks and the future of customs governance structure. The group consists of 12 representatives of business, science and state institutions. The result of their work is presented in the report published on 31 March 2022, reviewing both the current customs situation and the origins of the systemic problems, as well as providing 10 recommendations for a major breakthrough.

‘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.

Customs procedure 42 is a mechanism that an EU importer uses to obtain a VAT exemption. It is applied when goods imported from outside the EU into a Member State will be transported to another … EU Member State. In such cases, the VAT is due in the latter - the Member State of destination.