A volunteer, customs and a car for the Armed Forces: a victory in court in favor of the volunteer!

What happened?

The volunteer turned to Miller Law Firm to represent him in a case of violation of customs regulations based on a protocol drawn up by customs. The amount of the fine that could have been applied to him was UAH 250,000, as well as the confiscation of the car imported for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

In June 2022, a volunteer imported a car for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine into the customs territory of Ukraine. Part of the money for the car was raised by the defenders, and the other part was raised by the volunteer community. When crossing the customs border, the volunteer indicated in the customs declaration that the car was humanitarian aid, and the recipient was a military unit.

In support of this, a letter from a representative of the military unit was attached to the customs declaration with a request to let the vehicle through for use in combat missions. After being imported into Ukraine and handed over to the military, the vehicle performed its functions at the front, where it was damaged by enemy shelling and was no longer subject to repair.

Problems with customs

A year after the car was imported, customs inspectors checked the receipt of the humanitarian aid and made a request to the military unit. The military unit replied that it had not received such a vehicle and that it was not registered.

Based on this response, customs drew up a protocol on the volunteer’s violation of customs regulations. It believed that the volunteer had moved the car across the border concealed from customs control by submitting documents that allegedly contained false information about the recipient of the car, a military unit. This was defined as an administrative offense under ч. 1 of Article 483 of the Customs Code of Ukraine .

For this violation, the sanction of the article provides for a fine of 50 to 100% of the value of the goods, which the customs determined to be UAH 250,000 based on car sales websites (the real value of the car was three times less). It also provides for the confiscation of the car.

Litigation

The team of Miller Law Firm, headed by Anastasia Tuz, managed to collect the proper evidence base and prove that the volunteer had not committed an offense. Although there were difficulties in the case: apart from correspondence in messengers and publications in social networks, there was almost no other evidence. We thoroughly analyzed all available materials, duly documented them, sent lawyers’ requests, and contacted the volunteers and the military to confirm all the circumstances in court.

Court decision

The court of first instance agreed with the defense and emphasized that the customs did not prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The court stated that failure to comply with the procedure for registering a car, provided that it was actually transferred for the needs of the army, cannot be attributed to the volunteer.

Subsequently, the Court of Appeal of the court of first instance dismissed the appeal and made a final decision in favor of our client.

Result:

For us, winning this case is not only an opportunity to protect our client’s interests in the face of limited evidence, but also a challenge to prevent the establishment of a precedent in similar cases where there is a risk of unjustified prosecution of volunteers and imposition of significant fines for their assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.