Duty and Customs Column

Since the introduction of the European Single Market in 1992 the impact of excise duty on Customs the department of state charged with its care and management has been devastating. The spectacle of cross-border shoppers being harassed by Customs officers on their return to the United Kingdom by actions which the tabloid media described as 'bullying' was unedifying by any standards; all the more so when the High Court and the Court of Appeal pointed out that the Statutory Instrument on which Customs were relying was incompatible with the European Union legislation which it was supposed to be implementing. Then...