Customs and Excise Management Act 1979

119 Delivery of imported goods on giving of security for duty

(1) Where it is impracticable immediately to ascertain whether any or what duty is payable in respect of any imported goods which are entered for home use, whether on importation or from warehouse, the Commissioners may, if they think fit and notwithstanding any other provision of the Customs and Excise Acts 1979, allow those goods to be delivered upon the importer giving security by deposit of money or otherwise to their satisfaction for payment of any amount unpaid which may be payable by way of duty.

(2) The Commissioners may for the purposes of subsection (1) above treat goods as entered for home use notwithstanding that the entry does not contain all the particulars required for perfect entry if it contains as many of those particulars as are then known to the importer, and in that event the importer shall supply the remaining particulars as soon as may be to the Commissioners.

(3) Where goods are allowed to be delivered under this section, the Commissioners shall, when they have determined the amount of duty which in their opinion is payable, give to the importer a notice specifying that amount.

(4) On the giving of a notice under subsection (3) above the amount specified in the notice or, where any amount has been deposited under subsection (1) above, any difference between those amounts shall forthwith be paid or repaid as the case may require.

(5) Subject to subsection (6) below, if the importer disputes the correctness of the amount specified in a notice given to him under subsection (3) above he may at any time within 3 months of the date of the notice make such a requirement for reference to arbitration or such an application to the court as is provided for by section 127 below, and that section shall have effect accordingly.

(6) No requirement or application shall be made by virtue of subsection (5) above until any sum falling to be paid by the importer under subsection (4) above has been paid, and where any sum so falls to be paid no interest shall be paid under section 127(2) below in respect of any period before that sum is paid.