Additional customs assessments and fines: the fifteen-day objection period

A significant share of customs disputes is lost not on the merits but on time. The reason is not only that the periods are short, but that the courts are not open directly: before going to court against a decision of the customs administration an objection must be made to the administration itself, and the period allowed for it isfifteen days from notification.

The clock starts on the day of notification

Under article 242 of Customs Law No. 4458, a person may object to customs duties, fines and administrative decisions notified to them within fifteen days of notification, by petition to the superior authority or, where there is none, to the same authority.

In practice those fifteen days are usually spent collecting documents, corresponding with the customs broker or speaking to the administration by telephone. None of that suspends the period. The day the notification reaches the company is the day the legal calendar of the file begins; recording the date and the manner of service is the first task.

The objection is not an option but a condition of suit

Proceedings cannot be brought directly before the tax court against an additional assessment or a fine. Exhausting the administrative objection is a condition of suit, and a claim filed without it is dismissed without the merits being reached. By then the fifteen-day period will also have expired, so the decision becomes final.

The petition must show concretely in what respect the decision is unlawful. Disputes fall for the most part under four headings: the tariff classification of the goods; determination of the customs value, including whether royalties, licence fees and costs incurred abroad form part of it; origin and the conditions for preferential treatment; and breaches of a customs regime. A document not produced, or an argument not raised, at the objection stage is usually assessed from a weaker position later in court.

The administration's answer, deemed refusal and court

Objections reaching the administration are decided within thirty days and notified to the person concerned. Two consequences follow.

If the objection is expressly refused, proceedings may be brought before the tax court within thirty days of notification of the refusal. If the administration says nothing within thirty days, the objection is deemed to have been refused, and the period for bringing proceedings starts to run from the day that thirty-day period expires.

Deemed refusal causes a quiet loss of rights when it is not monitored: time to sue runs, and expires, while a letter from the administration is still being awaited. Entering the thirtieth day in the calendar as soon as the objection is lodged should be a routine part of the file.

Settlement: a separate route that suspends time

Article 244 of the Customs Law provides for settlement in respect of customs duties and administrative fines. A settlement request is madewithin fifteen daysof notification, either where no objection has yet been made or where an objection has been made but not yet concluded.

What settlement does to time matters. Once a settlement request is made, the period for objecting or for bringing proceedings issuspended. If no settlement is reached or none can be achieved, time resumes where it left off; but where fewer than five days remain, the period is completed to five days. The purpose is to ensure that entering settlement talks does not cost the right to sue.

If a settlement is reached, the outcome is final: no proceedings may be brought and no complaint may be made to any authority in respect of the agreed sum. Settlement is therefore a decision, weighing duty and fine together, that cannot be undone.

Payment, security and collection

Neither an objection nor court proceedings suspend collection of their own accord. In practice goods are usually cleared against security and the dispute proceeds over that security. A stay of execution is applied for separately at the litigation stage and is assessed on its own terms.

Paying the sum does not by itself extinguish the right to sue: payment may be made under reservation and proceedings brought afterwards. The terms under which payment is made are a detail that is hard to correct later.

What the file needs

A customs dispute runs on documents. What should be ready at the objection stage is generally this: the customs declaration and its annexes; the commercial invoice and proof of payment; transport documents; origin and movement certificates; licence and royalty agreements where they exist; technical documentation for the product and any analysis reports bearing on classification; and earlier administrative decisions on comparable imports. In classification disputes, whether binding tariff information has been applied for is assessed as well.