Online message – Friday 05/19/2023
Customs Law | Treatment of costs for the creation of print templates for labels (BFH)
Among other things, the BFH submitted the question to the Court of Justice of the European Union for a preliminary ruling as to whether the costs for the creation of print templates for labels in the customs territory of the Union correspond to the transaction value pursuant to Article 32 (1) (a) (ii) ZK or Article 32 paragraph 1 letter b number iv ZK are to be added if the buyer resident in the customs territory of the Union provides the printer templates to the supplier in the third country free of charge in electronic form ( published on 19.5.2023).
Background: To determine the customs value, the transaction value method in accordance with Art. 29 ZK is to be applied with priority. The customs value of imported goods is, according to Art. 29 Para Non-inclusion of the deductible items specified in Art. 33 ZK must be corrected.
Facts: The plaintiff was the proprietor of a type D customs warehouse. She processed preserved foodstuffs in cans, which had been imported by another company (buyer) from third countries, for the customs warehousing procedure and then transferred them (period from
until ) under the local clearance procedure for free circulation. The canned goods had paper labels stuck on to them, which the suppliers had produced in the third country using print templates that the buyer had made available to them electronically free of charge. The print templates were created by various design studios in the Federal Republic of Germany (Germany) on behalf of and at the expense of the buyer. The customs value declarations only indicated the amount that the buyer had to pay to the manufacturers in the third countries in accordance with the sales contracts concluded with them, including the costs for the retail packaging and for printing the paper labels stuck on the packaging, but excluding the costs for the print templates.
With import duty notice dated
the main customs office (HZA) subsequently levied customs duties on the plaintiff. The HZA was of the opinion that proportionate costs for design drafts or (or) artwork for the adhesive labels should have been included in the customs value.
The BFH states:
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According to the referring court, the tins used in the dispute are enclosures i. 32(1)(a)(ii) ZK. The labels that are stuck on the canned food in the third country should also fall under this provision because they are firmly attached to the canned food and cannot be separated from it without damaging it. In accordance with this view, the plaintiff included the cost of printing the labels in the customs value.
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However, it is unclear whether the additional facts of Article 32(1)(a)(ii) of the CC can be interpreted to the extent that it also includes costs for the creation of templates for the labels to be attached to the imported goods in the third country Clarification by the ECJ.
Those:
; NWB Datenbank (JT)
Source(s):
NWB FAAAJ-40202