You may submit a rejoinder concerning a negative draft decision by Customs

If Customs is taking a decision which would adversely affect the applicant, the applicant shall be given the opportunity to submit a rejoinder before a final decision is taken (UCC Art. 22(6)).

In the negative draft decision sent for hearing, Customs explains the grounds on which the proposed negative decision is based. You may submit a rejoinder (response), to the negative draft decision. In the rejoinder, you can express your opinion on the negative draft decision received. Submit the rejoinder to Customs within the given time limit in the hearing request.

Justify your position in the rejoinder

You may disagree with the decision made by Customs. If you disagree, for example on the grounds for the draft decision or on any other matters, clearly justify your own point of view in the rejoinder. In your response, you may base your arguments on new information obtained by the company that was not available earlier. Such new additional information may include missing documents requested by Customs or other additional information that the company only became aware of after Customs made the negative draft decision.

The response should include all information that could influence the decision or invalidate the grounds stated in the draft decision. The response should be accompanied by written additional evidence and documents.

Customs will reconsider its draft decision when the customer has submitted a rejoinder to Customs within the time limit. Once the review has been completed, the final decision will be issued to the appellant.

Provide the rejoinder within the time limit

Customs always waits for a rejoinder (response) to a negative draft decision sent to the customer. You should respond to Customs’ hearing request also in cases where you accept the draft decision. The processing of the declaration or the matter only continues once you have provided a rejoinder to the hearing request or when the time limit of the rejoinder has runs out.

The response to the hearing request must be submitted no later than 30 days after the hearing request is shown in the Customs Clearance Service or you have received the hearing request message. If you receive the hearing request by post, the response period is 38 days from the date of the draft decision. Check the deadline for submitting your rejoinder in the hearing request. You can reply to the hearing request as soon as you receive it.

I you do not provide a rejoinder to the hearing request within the time limit, the draft decision made by Customs will become the final decision.

What are negative draft decisions?

Negative draft decisions are for example Customs’ draft decisions on subsequent recovery and penalty fees as well as negative draft decisions when an amendment requested in a request for administrative review cannot be accepted in full or in part.

During the inspection, Customs may discover that some of the goods have not been declared to Customs or that goods declared for another customs procedure have disappeared from customs supervision. In these situations, Customs usually makes proposals and decisions on its own initiative to collect the customs debt.

A hearing request may also be issued in connection with a customs declaration if, for example, one of the following has occurred:

• You submit a customs declaration retrospectively for goods that have left the warehouse undeclared, meaning it is a so‑called ‘unauthorised release’.
  • Customs will ask for additional information about the release and will consider imposing a penalty fee. If Customs decides to propose a penalty fee, Customs will send a draft decision and a related hearing request.
• You submit a supplementary customs declaration after the time limit has expired. You have received reminders from Customs.
  • Customs will send you a proposed customs clearance decision for hearing that may involve a penalty fee.

Delivery methods of the draft decisions and how to respond to them

How the draft decision is delivered depends on whether Customs sends the draft decision as a reply to a customs declaration or whether Customs makes the draft decision on its own initiative. This also affects to whom the draft is sent.

1. When Customs sends a draft decision in response to an import customs declaration or an application for a review or an invalidation, Customs requests a response to a negative draft decision by means of a separate hearing request with a message, via the Customs Clearance Service, or by post. Points to consider:
   • In these cases, Customs sends the hearing request to the sender of the customs declaration or the amendment application. Note that if the sender is a representative, the hearing request is only sent to the representative.
   • You can speed up the processing of the customs declaration or application by replying to the hearing request electronically with a message or in the Customs Clearance Service.
2. When Customs issues a draft decision on the collection of a customs debt on its own initiative, Customs sends the hearing request and the decisions, together with their appendices, by post to all persons liable for customs duties and taxes. In the case of a penalty fee, a hearing request is sent to the operator who is considered to have made the error. Points to consider:
   • These hearing requests sent by post and made at the initiative of Customs, can be replied to either in the Customs Clearance Service, by email or by post. See the guidance on how to search for declarations and on switching the transaction channel in the user guidance of the Customs Clearance Service
   • For message exchange customers, Customs also sends hearing requests initiated on its own initiative with a message. They can also be replied to with a message.

Message exchange customer, activate hearing requests

Message exchange customers should activate hearing requests. Customs requests a rejoinder to the hearing request with a message instead of a letter, if the message exchange customer has started using the hearing request message. In this way, you speed up the processing of the declarations.

Contact your software supplier or service provider to find out how the hearing requests are shown in the application you are using and how to respond to them.

Read more about message exchange.