When Do Additional Duties or Penalty Measures Come into Effect?
Additional customs duties, retaliatory measures and anti-dumping duties etc are all published in the Official Journal and often come to the attention of the importer at very short notice. These costs are typically a very high percentage of the value of the goods and can turn otherwise profitable deals into loss-making deals. One key point to address is when do such measures come in to effect?
In Hauptzollamt Bremen v J.E. Tyson Parketthandel GmbH (Case C-134/08) the ECJ gave a preliminary ruling concerning the interpretation of Article 2(1) of Council Regulation 2193/2003 establishing additional customs duties on imports of certain products originating in the United States of America. The first indent of Article 2(1) provides:
"...An ad valorem duty additional to the customs duty applicable under Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 shall be imposed on the products originating in the United States of America...as follows...
When is customs debt extinguished if goods are unlawfully introduced into the EC?
The ECJ recently made a decision regarding customs debt in respect of goods unlawfully introduced and later seized and destroyed by the customs authorities into the EC ( Elshani v Hauptzollamt Linz (C-459/07).
The Facts
The case concerned a cigarette smuggling operation using two tourist coaches involving Mr Elshani and his brother from Kosovo to Austria. The regional police for the Land of Upper Austria carried out telephone surveillance in the Eferding area in connection with this operation. As a result of the surveillance, Mr Elshani was stopped near the town of Wels (Austria) in one of the coaches in which 150 cartons of cigarettes had been concealed in the central aisle. The coach had not yet reached its destination of Eferding (Austria).
The cigarettes were seized by the Austrian customs authorities then confiscated and destroyed under official supervision. Mr Elshani was responsible for the customs debt incurred in the course of the period between 19 and 21 May 2001. Austrian Customs claimed import duties of EUR 961.46 by decision on 13 November 2002 for the seized cartons which Mr Elshani challenged on 13 December 2002. Austrian Customs rejected the challenge by decision of 7 July 2003 as unfounded and subsequently Mr Elshani appealed to the the Independent Tax Tribunal, Graz Division which decided to stay the rulings and refer to the ECJ.
As of 1 July 2009, the EU will "go live" with the new Economic Operator Registration and Identification (EORI) Scheme. If you are approved or wish to be approved as an Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) (extremely advisable for future customs transaction) and/or are required to provide pre-arrival/pre-departure information or are involved in the import, export or movement of goods under a transit procedure you will need an EORI number.
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