Důležité rozhodnutí NSS ke stanovení celní hodnoty

Important decision of the SAC on the determination of the customs value

The SAC considered the recent case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) on the determination of customs value on the basis of value other than transaction value. In its decision, it rejected the customs office's (and later the DGC and the Regional Court's) attempt to impose customs duty on a footwear importer based on an incorrect application of CJEU case law and clearly explained how the customs office should have proceeded.

In the present case, the importer declared a value more than 50 % lower than the average value of similar goods imported into the Czech Republic (i.e. goods classified under the same commodity code), and the customs office assessed the difference, relying on the procedure for determining the customs value on the basis of the so-called last method.

In its case-law, the CJEU has accepted that the declared customs value may be rejected if the declared price is unusually low compared to the statistical average of the purchase prices for the importation of similar goods. We informed you about the determination of the customs value based on statistical data HERE.

With reference to the case law of the CJEU, the SAC disagreed with the customs authorities' approach for two reasons. Firstly, the customs authorities were unable to prove that they had actually used the customs value of similar goods (i.e. based on the interchangeable goods) to determine the customs value, as they did not have the necessary data. It is for the customs administration, not the declarant, to prove the above value. 

Second, the customs authorities did not comply with the so-called 'subsidiarity rule' for methods of determining customs value. In other words, the customs authorities did not properly justify their rejection of a particular method (in this case the fourth method, or the unit price method) before proceeding to the next method and finally determining the customs value on the basis of the so-called last method. According to the SAC, the customs authorities failed when they did not require the declarant to provide supporting documents for the determination of the customs value under the unit price method. According to the case law of the CJEU, which is also referred to by the SAC, such approach is contrary to the customs legislation.

The decision of the SAC shows that it is necessary to read the CJEU decision (with understanding). In this context, we recommend that you reflect on the method of determining the customs value of your imported goods.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the authors of the article or the EY tax team you are working with.

Authors:

Jakub Kašuba

Štěpán Kvíz