Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Court of Appeal (United Kingdom) made on 3 April 2019 – Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs v WR
(Case C-279/19)
Language of the case: English
Referring court
Court of Appeal (United Kingdom)
Parties to the main proceedings
Appellant: Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
Respondent: WR
Questions referred
Is a person (‘P’) who is in physical possession of excise goods at a point when those goods become chargeable to excise duty in Member State B, liable for that excise duty pursuant to Article 33(3) of Directive 2008/118/EC1 in circumstances where that person:
had no legal or beneficial interest in the excise goods;
was transporting the excise goods, for a fee, on behalf of others between Member State A and Member State B; and
knew that the goods he was in possession of were excise goods but did not know and did not have reason to suspect that the goods had become chargeable to excise duty in Member State B at or prior to the time that they became so chargeable?
Is the answer to Question 1 different if P did not know that the goods he was in possession of were excise goods?
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1 Council Directive 2008/118/EC of 16 December 2008 concerning the general arrangements for excise duty and repealing Directive 92/12/EEC (OJ 2009, L 9, p. 12).