Keywords
Summary

Keywords

Customs union — Incurrence and recovery of customs debt in the event of breaches of customs rules — Charging of interest on arrears — Whether permissible — Criteria — (Council Regulation No 2913/92, Arts 202 to 205, 210, 211 and 220; Commission Regulation No 2454/93)

Summary

Regulation No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code and Regulation No 2454/93 laying down provisions for the implementation of Regulation No 2913/92 must be interpreted as not precluding legislation which provides for an increase in duty in the event of the incurrence of a customs debt under Articles 202 to 205 or 210 or 211 of the Customs Code or in the event of subsequent recovery under Article 220 of the Code, which all concern situations involving breach by the trader concerned of the Community customs legislation corresponding to the amount which would have been incurred as interest on arrears for the period between the incurrence of the customs debt and the entry in the accounts or, in the case of subsequent recovery under Article 220 of the Code, between the date when the customs debt originally entered in the accounts was due and the subsequent entry in the accounts of that debt, provided that the rate of interest is determined under conditions which are comparable to those applicable under national law to infringements of the same nature and gravity and which make the penalty effective, proportionate and dissuasive. It is for the national court to determine whether the rate of increase at issue in the main proceedings is consistent with those principles.

see paras 19, 23, operative part