Harmoniserade tulltaxor. Införlivande tolkning och tillämpning av internationella regler för varuklassificering

Sammanfattning: In international commerce, various taxes and charges are levied on commodities; besides, goods may be subject to import and export restrictions. However, free-trade agreements may stipulate that some goods can be imported and exported free of charge. The regulations pertaining to different types of merchandise are reflected in the customs tariff of a state or customs union. The application of many regulations in customs law is thus dependent on the classification of goods under the customs tariff. Like measures to protect trade, and trade-political sanctions, international negotiations and agreements on the liberalization of commerce require uniformity in respect of customs tariffs and regulations for the classification of goods. Different national systems of classification may set up trade barriers. The creation of uniformly designed customs tariffs is hence a long-standing ambition which resulted in the 1983 International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System. The Convention incorporates a model customs tariff, the so-called HS nomenclature, which forms the basis for the customs tariffs of the European Union, the USA, and Japan, among others. Russia and several other East European countries have also joined the system; so has China. The present thesis describes the HS nomenclature and looks at ways in which the Convention has been transformed into EC and American legislation, considering the rules of international law against EC and American law. Preliminary rulings from the European Court of Justice, and decisions made by those American courts which handle classification cases, have been studied with a view to elucidating the interpretation and application of the regulations concerned. The aim of the court-case study was to examine the interpretive methods applied by courts to customs cases and the criteria on which the classification of a commodity is based. A major question here is whether classification should only take account of those objective qualities and characteristics of a commodity that can be established at the time of customs clearance, or whether reasons for giving special treatment to a commodity should be considered as well. In other contexts, the EC Court's interpretive method is often described as target- or system-orientated. This investigation shows that where customs cases are concerned, the Court departs from its usual interpretive approach; in this respect, too, there seem to be differences between the EC Court and American Courts.