Distance Selling in UK Law

In my judgment CREEDNZ (via the decision in Findlay) does not only support the proposition that where a statute conferring discretionary power provides no lexicon of the matters to be treated as relevant by the decision-maker, then it is for the decision-maker and not the court to conclude what is relevant subject only to Wednesbury review.

However, it was part of the Court's reasoning, at para 37, that article 8 is not applicable where the purchase and/or transportation of goods subject to duty is effected through an agent. The Advocate General had answered the first question in the negative and then answered the second a fortiori from the first. The object of the rules is to determine whether duty is payable in the country of origin or the country of destination.

The involvement of people other than the purchaser in the intra-Community movement of goods is carefully regulated by other provisions in the Directive, including the provision for distance selling in article 10. If it had been intended that the purchaser could have been reflected by any natural or legal person to whom he had given a power of attorney in order to benefit from article 8 of the Directive, it would have said so.

The taking of an account is the means by which a beneficiary requires a trustee to justify his stewardship of trust property. If the beneficiary is dissatisfied with the way that a trustee has dealt with trust assets, he may surcharge or falsify the account. If the allegation is proved, then the account is taken as if the trustee had received, for the benefit of the trust, what he would have received if he had exercised due care and diligence.

[24] HMRC's application for an immediate reference and adjournment of the hearing is dismissed. The hearing will take place as listed. It will be for the hearing judge to determine whether to make an reference and if so on what terms.

There must be prima facie admissible evidence of each element of the offence. Although anything plainly inadmissible should be left out of account, we do not think that, at the stage of charging, it is necessary or appropriate to consider the possibility that evidence might be excluded at the trial after full legal argument or in the exercise of the judge's discretion. An officer cannot be expected to investigate the truth of every assertion made by the suspect in interview.