A customs charge may be regarded as levied solely or exclusively by reason of its crossing a frontier, although it is applied at a later stage, such as marketing or processing of the product: ‘the prohibition [of a CEE] is aimed at any tax demanded at the time of or by reason of importation and which, being imposed specifically on an imported product to the exclusion of a similar domestic product, results in the same restrictive consequences on the free movement of goods as a customs duty by altering the cost price of that product. The essential characteristic of a charge having an effect equivalent to a customs duty, which distinguishes it from internal taxation, is that the first is imposed exclusively on the imported product whilst the second is imposed on both imported and domestic products. A charge affecting both imported products and similar products could however constitute a charge having an effect equivalent to a customs duty if such a duty, which is limited to particular products, had the sole purpose of financing activities for the specific advantage of the taxed domestic products, so as to make good, wholly or in part, the fiscal charge imposed upon them’.’
Citations:
C-78/76, R-78/76, [1977] EUECJ R-78/76, [1977] ECR 595
Links:
Jurisdiction:
European
Citing:
Cited – Carmine Capolongo v Azienda Agricole Maya. (Aids Granted By A Member State ) ECJ 19-Jun-1973
. .
Cited by:
Cited – Bloomsbury International Ltd v Sea Fish Industry Authority and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs SC 15-Jun-2011
The 1995 Regulations imposed a levy on fish both caught and first landed in the UK and also on imported fish products. The claimants, importers challenged the validity of the latter charges, saying that they went beyond the power given by the 1981 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
European
Updated: 21 June 2022; Ref: scu.214541