Custom and malpradice
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The European Court of Justice has ruled that truck drivers can be ordered to pay duty on any contraband found in their trucks —
even if they have proved their innocence Jennifer Ball reports.
Tnicks drivers caught with smuggled goods on their vehicles are to be held responsible for the duty even if they are proven to be innocent victims of deceit, following a landmark ruling from the European Court of Justice. This means that drivers caught with gold bullion, cigarettes or alcohol smuggled on board their vehicles face huge financial penalties even if the court accepts they are not smugglers.
Legal experts from Fair Trials Abroad (FTA) warn that the ruling tips the balance in favour of the prosecution. It says until regulations are amended to allow truck drivers to defend themselves on the grounds that they could not reasonably be expected to know about the concealed goods it is unsafe for any driver to carry goods across EU frontiers. FTA director Stephen Jakobi explains: "It is an extremely worrying situation. Even if a truck driver is acquitted from smuggling he is
now still liable for the duty on the goods, which could leave him bankrupt.There needs to be an urgent change in the law. We are pressing for the European Commission to review this and its laws on criminal liability." While the ruling does not directly cover drugs because
they are not subject to duty it could have wider implications as it implies that drivers should be held responsible for any illegal goods found on board their vehicles. Driver Mick Boyden, who was fined £600,000 by French Customs for smuggling prohibited goods despite being cleared of illegal transport and possession of narcotics, says the ruling is disgusting: "There is no way that a driver can check the whole of his load. The people who make these rules should come out
on the road and see what the job is really like."
Sarah Wilson, whose partner truck driver Paul Watson is jailed in France for allegedly smuggling /500,000 worth of cannabis, agrees: "How can a bureaucrat sitting in his office with no knowledge of what it takes to load and get a vehicle out on the road rule on this? They do not realise how unrealistic it would be for a driver to check every box that is on board his vehicle. It is no longer safe for UK drivers to carry out international work. The government should be doing more to protect drivers abroad." Ruling could help foreigners
Don Armour, the Freight Transport Association's manager of international affairs says the ruling could affect UK competition with foreign operators. He points out that it is already hard enough to get drivers to go abroad because of the problems with illegal immigrants and on-the-spot fines — this ruling can only make the situation worse: "Have the authorities learned nothing over the past three of four years from the stowaway situation? The industry is doing its utmost to protect itself with best practice. So why do the Court of Justice and other authorities remain so intransigent in their attitudes?"•
The European Court of Justice ruling
The European Court of Justice rejected an appeal by two Lithuanian drivers against a demand by German Customs that they pay DM85,347 in duty after they brought a trailer owned by a third party into Germany in 1998. It was found to contain cartons of cigarettes in a secret compartment in the trailer's ceiling. The drivers argued that the cigarettes had been hidden without their knowledge.
However, the ECJ ruled that the EU's Community Customs Code requires that a truck driver and co-driver declare all goods, "including those hidden in a secret compartment especially made for that purpose... even though the goods were hidden in the vehicle without their knowledge. As a result, "the person who has introduced the goods into the EU without mentioning them... is a Customs debtor".