The High Court has upheld a €395,887.80 customs debt against Bell Transport Limited arising from second-hand vehicles brought into Ireland from Great Britain in January and February 2021 after Brexit.
Mr Justice Liam Kennedy rejected Bell Transport's argument that vehicles which were already in Great Britain when the Brexit transition period ended at 11pm on 31 December 2020 should be treated as having been "taken out" of the EU customs territory for the purposes of Returned Goods Relief.
Bell Transport initially claimed preferential UK origin treatment on many of the imported vehicles, which could have produced a zero customs-duty rate. It later accepted that those claims were largely incorrect and instead relied on Returned Goods Relief, while also claiming a special tariff classification for three classic cars.
The Tax Appeals Commission had substantially upheld Revenue's assessment. It found that Bell Transport failed to establish that it was acting as a direct customs representative rather than as importer, and had not supplied documentation required to substantiate its claims for preferential origin, Returned Goods Relief or the classic-car classification.
The High Court agreed. Kennedy J held that Brexit did not amount to a deemed mass export of all goods located in Great Britain. The vehicles lost their EU customs status because the United Kingdom left the Union, not because they had been physically "taken out" under Article 154 of the Union Customs Code.
The court also held that Returned Goods Relief available under European Commission guidance depended on proving when vehicles had originally moved from the EU to Great Britain and that they returned within the applicable three-year period. Bell Transport had not supplied the necessary evidence.
Kennedy J further rejected arguments that delays in Revenue's accounting of the customs debt extinguished liability or that equity required remission. The court answered the stated questions in Revenue's favour and upheld the Commissioner's legal conclusions.