International Trade

Duty Refund Hit By Seven-Year Hitch

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...a reclaim certainly was allowable within EU law.

The company re-submitted its claims for 2000, 2001 and 2003 and sent the C285 into the local Customs & Excise office. It is not clear what verification work, if any, was carried out by Customs but the papers found their way down to the National Duty Repayment Centre (NDRC) at Dover, which asked for copies of every single declaration – about 50,000 of them!

In September 2004, I contacted the local officer in an attempt to find out why the refund claim had stalled but I was advised that the NDRC was responsible for processing the claim. My next move then was to approach the Valuation Policy Section in Southend as this deadlock was a matter of pure policy. This avenue drew an entirely unhelpful blank as I was referred back to the local officer, who was taking no responsibility at all.

At no stage had anyone in the Department made a decision so it was impossible to ask for a Review. More time elapsed whilst letters were written but no useful responses received. There was even a meeting at the NDRC in the summer of 2005 and, despite the fact that more letters were exchanged, there was still no action.

In one of the letters from HMRC (as it had now become), an officer wrote, ‘I have taken into consideration your comments regarding the price paid or payable for the goods. However, other rules then apply (within EC Regulation 2913/92) where discounts are received.’ I asked for the exact reference in the Customs Code but, not surprisingly, did not receive a response.

At long last, in January 2006, the importer received a letter that carried the inviting phrase that, if we didn’t agree with the decision (to reject most of the claim), we could ask... continued on page four >

 

 

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