The Court of Appeal has remitted one issue in Used Car Importers of Ireland Limited’s challenge to Revenue’s valuation of imported used vehicles to the High Court, while declaring that Revenue acted unlawfully by failing or refusing to disclose its valuation methodology between 1993 and 2010.
The ruling, delivered by Mr Justice Murray on 20 January 2021 with the agreement of Justices Donnelly and Faherty, addresses outstanding orders following an earlier appeal judgment delivered on 6 November 2020. The court said the High Court had not determined whether Revenue’s method generally produced valuations close to the vehicles’ actual values, as required by Article 110 TFEU and related EU case law.
The State respondents opposed remittal, citing the time and resources required to examine a historic system covering millions of transactions. They argued that evidence from the period between 1993 and 2010 was difficult to produce, and that any relief would be declaratory. UCII sought a High Court decision, arguing that Revenue had not supplied evidence establishing that the valuations were generally close to actual values and that it could not properly present its case without information about the method.
The Court of Appeal said it could not resolve disputed questions about responsibility for delays, actual prejudice to Revenue, the availability of records, or whether the claim could fairly be limited to a shorter period. It therefore remitted a single question: whether Revenue’s method for valuing used vehicles imported from other EU member states during the period covered by the action generally produced values close to actual value.
The remittal does not prevent the respondents from asking the High Court to dismiss the claim, narrow its time period or make another order. The Court of Appeal said the High Court retains its full jurisdiction and discretion to consider such an application.
The court also settled the form of a declaration that Revenue acted unlawfully under domestic and EU law by failing or refusing to provide UCII with the method used to determine the open market selling price of used vehicles under section 133 of the Finance Act 1992, from 1993 to 2010.
On costs, the Court of Appeal gave a provisional view that UCII should receive 50 per cent of its appeal costs. The parties had five days from receipt of the judgment to notify the court if they disputed that proposal, in which case a hearing would be convened. The High Court was to determine the costs of the proceedings there.