Facts
[A.] AB, a purchasing company, bought goods from foreign producers and delivered them to its subsidiary, [A. AG] , in Switzerland. The goods were initially brought to a central purchasing warehouse abroad and then transported to the domestic delivery warehouse. The Federal Customs Administration (FCA) demanded that [A.] AB pay subsequent import duties, as it believed that the tax base for the import duty had not been correctly declared.
[A.] AB appealed and argued that the import duty should be calculated on the basis of the consideration it paid to the foreign producers. The FCA and the Federal Administrative Court rejected this argument and decided that the tax base for the import duty was the market value of the goods at the domestic destination.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined the appeal and came to the conclusion that the import duty should be calculated on the basis of the consideration that [A.] AB paid to the foreign producers. The court argued that the importation of the goods was made in fulfillment of a purchase contract between [A.] AB and the foreign producers, and that the consideration was therefore the tax base for the import duty.
The court pointed out that the tax base for the import duty was not the market value of the goods at the domestic destination, but the consideration that the importer paid to the foreign…