Yesterday, the national court acquitted the Icelandic state of a claim by an import company that the ruling of the director of customs on the customs classification of imported mozzarella cheese would be overturned.
Danol, imported grated cheese containing more than 80% mozzarella cheese and 11-12% palm oil. Danol classified the cheese in the customs register as vegetable cheese, but the director of customs believed that it should be classified as any kind of grated or crushed cheese.
Not a pillar in the general sense
Danol filed a lawsuit against the state and demanded that the director of customs’ ruling be revoked. The company referred to a comment in a specific section of the Customs Tariff that the section did not include products derived from milk as one or more of its natural components, such as milk fat, were replaced by other components, such as vegetable fats.
However, the National Court, like the Reykjavik District Court before it, held that the comment in question was intended to exclude products obtained from milk as one or more of its natural components had been replaced by another.
In the ordinary sense of the word, it involves replacing something, removing or removing something, and replacing it with something else. Replacing one material with another would not be the same as adding material in addition to the existing one.
Therefore, Danol’s cause of action was not supported by a general understanding of the language or the explanation of the text according to the word silence.