Legal framework

Explanation: no automatic suspensive effect of the administrative appeal

Appealing against a UTB does not have an automatic suspensive effect on the obligation to pay. This follows directly from the Union Customs Code (UCC).

• Article 45 UCC expressly provides that an appeal does not suspend the implementation of a customs decision.

• The underlying rationale is the protection of the financial interests of the European Union: customs duties constitute EU own resources and must, as a rule, be collected without delay, even where they are disputed.

• The EU legislator deliberately opted for a system in which legal remedies and recovery exist in parallel: access to justice is ensured, but without automatic suspension.

As a counterbalance to the absence of suspensive effect, the UCC provides an explicit mechanism for deferment of payment:

• Article 112 UCC empowers customs authorities to grant deferment of payment where the customs debt is contested.

• Such deferment is not automatic and must be requested proactively and in due time by the debtor.

At national level, this is reflected in:

• Article 7:5 of the Dutch General Customs Act, which confirms that an administrative appeal do not suspend payment but allow for deferment;

• the general system of the General Administrative Law Act, under which objections and appeals generally lack suspensive effect unless expressly provided by law.

Conclusion: upon receipt of a UTB, economic operators must take timely and separate action to safeguard both their legal remedies (administrative appeal) and their financial position (request for deferment of payment).