Comments on ECJ Customs C-72/24 & C-73/24: Calculation of customs value in Greek textile smuggling according to AG EU in violation of EU law

Legal Opinion Against Greek Customs Practices: Advocate General Norkus concluded that the use of aggregated statistical data collected at the EU level by the Greek tax authorities to determine the customs value of goods is incompatible with EU law as outlined in Article 30 of Regulation 2913/92 and Article 74(2) of Regulation 952/2013.
Case Context: The Greek customs authority investigated a textile smuggling case involving HF (case name: Keladis I), leading to the imposition of additional tax assessments related to VAT on imported Turkish textile products, where the customs value could not be reconstructed.
Use of Alternative Methods: While the Greek fiscus used the lowest acceptable price method developed by the European Anti-Fraud Office due to the inability to reconstruct the customs value, the Advocate General noted that, under certain conditions, using EU-level aggregated statistical data is permissible when applying fallback methods for customs value determination.