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Sabine Smouha v The Director of Border Revenue

Refusal to return a confiscated item

In Sabine Smouha v The Director of Border Revenue [2015] UKFTT 147 (14 April 2015) the FTT allowed an appeal against the Border Agency’s refusal to restore a bag.

Mrs Smouha was appealing against the refusal by the Border force to restore a crocodile skin handbag.

Mrs Smouha had ordered the bag online from a Japanese company which had mentioned the requirement to obtain CITES certificates (under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and confirmed that it would obtain these. On the bag’s arrival in the UK the Border Force had advised Mrs Smouha that it was being detained as its importation also required an import licence. Mrs Smouha had then applied unsuccessfully to the Animal Health and Veterinary Agency (AHVLA) for a retrospective import licence.

The FTT only had supervisory jurisdiction in...

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