Principle of ‘legal certainty’ in Customs Law
Taxes – including customs duties – are levied based on legislation. The amount of the customs duties is determined by the origin and classification of the goods. The rules for this are established in, among other things, origin protocols and the Combined Nomenclature. When it turns out retrospectively that too little has been collected and an additional charge is imposed, it is often not because the rules are unclear but because an incorrect declaration was made. However, in certain cases, it turns out that the rules were not clear at all and that the declarant believed he or she had made a correct declaration.