Keywords
Summary

Keywords

Common Customs Tariff – Value for customs purposes – Transaction value – Determination

(Council Regulation No 2913/92, Art. 33)

Summary

The condition specified in Article 33 of Regulation No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code, to the effect that import duties must be ‘shown separately’ from the price actually paid or payable for the imported goods, is satisfied in the case where the parties to the contract have agreed that those goods are to be delivered DDP (‘Delivered Duty Paid’) and have incorporated that information in the customs declaration but, by reason of a mistake as to the preferential origin of those goods, have failed to state the amount of the import duties.

First, even if the parties to the contract wrongly assumed that no import duty would be owed, the agreement between the seller and the buyer must be interpreted as meaning that, in accordance with the DDP clause, the custom duties are to be borne by the seller and that, consequently, the import duties which may be payable are included in the price actually paid or payable for the imported goods. Second, pursuant in particular to Articles 217 and 220 of the Customs Code, it is the authorities of the State of importation that are responsible for the calculation of import duties. Where the transaction value is correctly stated in the import declarations and the rate of customs duty applicable can be determined in the light of the origin of the goods, those authorities are in a position to calculate the amount of import duties legally owed and, consequently, to separate the value of those duties from the price actually paid or payable for the imported goods.

(see paras 30, 34-36, 40, operative part)