The documents are fine — the decision to adjust the customs value of goods cancelled

A foodstuffs distributor sent several complaints to the Business Ombudsman Council about decisions of Odesa Customs. The fact is that during the company’s import of food and technical salt from Turkey, Odesa Customs adjusted the customs value of these goods. Customs officials stated an incomplete list of documents as the reason, particularly, the lack of information on the cost of packaging, transportation from the factory to the port, cargo insurance, and also suspected the company of forging the customs declaration and the contract for goods transportation.
While reviewing complaints, the Council upheld the company’s position and supported it in appealing the customs’ decisions. BOC turned to the State Customs Service (SCS) and presented its own arguments. Firstly, the company submitted all the necessary documents to the customs with information on the goods packaging price, transportation from the factory to the port, and cargo handling. Secondly, insuring goods was a right, not an obligation of the complainant, so the company chose not to insure the goods in this case. The rest of the discrepancies and inaccuracies in the documents mentioned by the customs, were unconfirmed in the course of considering complaints.
In a letter to the State Customs Service, the Council emphasized that the company and Odesa Customs already had similar disputes on adjustment of customs value of goods in the past, and the court ruled in favor of the company. Thus, the situation that the complainant had already encountered once again showed the need to adjust the administrative practice of customs authorities. After all, according to official court statistics, in 2022, over 90% of cases were declared by courts as illegal and cancelled decisions on adjusting the customs value of goods.
The State Customs Service of Ukraine canceled decisions to adjust the customs value of goods. The complainant thanked the Council for participating in consideration of his complaints: “Without such a powerful team, we would not have achieved the result. I would like to sincerely thank everyone once again.”