Actual legal framework as laid down by CE 2020 / 877:
“Article 141 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 should also be amended to clarify that means of transport benefitting from total relief from import duty can be declared for temporary admission by the sole act of the goods crossing the frontier of the customs territory of the Union in any of the situations listed in point d) of paragraph 1 of that Article. The same applies for means of transport that are to be released for free circulation as returned goods according to Article 203 of the Code. Such clarification is needed for the sake of legal certainty.”
Whereby article 141 para 1 point d) says:
in Article 141(1), the following point (d) is added:
‘(d)
the sole act of the goods crossing the frontier of the customs territory of the Union in any of the following situations:
(i)
where an exemption from the obligation to convey goods to the appropriate place applies in accordance with the special rules referred to in Article 135(5) of the Code;
(ii)
where goods are deemed to be declared for re-export in accordance with Article 139(2) of this Regulation;
(iii)
where goods are deemed to be declared for export in accordance with Article 140(1) of this Regulation.’.
Is this pilot going to get the money refunded?
@T28 is it possible to upload a scan of that letter, perhaps with your name obscured? It would be a very useful letter to carry around in the plane. I carry a similar thing from French Customs saying that cabotage will not be applied to N-regs flying within France (they hit a few planes with that years ago, interrogating the passengers to try to get them to say they paid for the flight).
I don’t know when the legal action was filed so cannot comment but art. 141 is in its current format (e.g. waiving the VAT & import duties obligation for personal means of transportation regardless of PoE) since April 5th 2016.
Due to a mistake, the existing provision (codified EEC 2454 / 93) was left out of 2015 / 446 so if the import took place before the correction was enabled, chances are the VAT was levied legally due to that omission (but I would challenge at the ECJ anyway).
Post April 2016 the relief from having to use a customs post is in force, and further clarified by 2020 / 877.
I don’t think a copy of the letter is needed, I carry a copy of the reg with the relevant passage highlighted (I reckon that has more force anyway than a random scan).
It’s a common misconception that private means of transport have to use an official crossing for non-commercial, holiday or private traffic – I can’t blame Malibuflyer, even the German customs had to be challenged a bit to come up with the proper response.
Mooney_Driver wrote:
However, what is very dangerous in Switzerland is to drive an EU registered car or airplane as a Swiss resident, if the said airplane/car has not been imported properly into Switzerland, but is on a transit agreement.Indeed, that is also the case when an EU resident would fly a Swiss registered airplane into the EU or would drive a Swiss registered car into the EU, without the presence of a Swiss resident inside the car. For cars, it is even forbidden inside the EU. For example: If you’re a resident of the Netherlands, it is forbidden to drive a German registered car inside the Netherlands, as the Dutch authorities will see this as tax evasion. If you want to use a German registered car inside the Netherlands as a Dutch resident, you need to import it first and pay the tax duties.
If you want to use a German registered car inside the Netherlands as a Dutch resident, you need to import it first and pay the tax duties.
What happens if you rent a car in Germany and drive it over the border to NL?
I guess the rental companies have exemption agreements, like the Swiss ones reportedly have with German customs? So what you can’t do is borrow a car from your German brother.
Frans wrote:
If you’re a resident of the Netherlands, it is forbidden to drive a German registered car inside the Netherlands, as the Dutch authorities will see this as tax evasion. If you want to use a German registered car inside the Netherlands as a Dutch resident, you need to import it first and pay the tax duties.
Huh? Within the EU?
I wonder how rental car companies deal with this horror.
Mooney_Driver wrote:
Huh? Within the EU?
Yes. Belgian/French/German police used to hassle cross-border commuter workers (working in Luxembourg) that had the use of a company (their employer) car as part of their compensation package. Obviously:
Regulated under 83 / 182 / EEC.
“the said means of transport is not disposed of or hired out in the Member State of temporary importation or lent to a resident of that State. However, private vehicles belonging to a car-hire firm having its head office in the Community may be re-hired to non-residents with a view to being re-exported, if they are in the country as a result of a hire contract which ended in that country. They may also be returned by an employee of the car-hire firm to the Member State where they were originally hired, even if such employee is resident in the Member State of temporary importation.”
Interesting, thanks T28! That directive covers “importation” from one member state to another member state, not from e.g. Switzerland to the EU (most probably there is another directive that covers the temporary importation from outside the EU). This is article 3, and applies also to private airplanes. However, the clause about hire firms applies only to “private vehicles”, which is defined as road vehicles only.
