Successfully represented the client in a dispute regarding customs duties

Motieka & Audzevičius Dispute Resolution team has represented the client in a dispute with Lithuanian customs authorities before the Court of Justice of the European Union. The client imported chemical fertilizers from outside the EU. Customs authorities challenged the classification of the goods.

Our team achieved confirmation by the Court that the rule on which the customs authorities relied is not a rule at all but a presumption. As such it can be refuted by the provision of laboratory analysis reports about the factual composition of the goods. Since the client has such laboratory reports, this allows the client to launch a vigorous defense in domestic courts.

The dispute is very important to all the importers of fertilizers into Lithuania since the same product is imported by various companies and all of them have pending disputes with customs authorities. After the local court referred the case to the CJEU, the importance became EU-wide. The judgment of the CJEU impacted the whole European fertilizer market.