Question: We are a Truck Rental company in Spain and work with shipping companies all around Europe. We have one of our trucks seized in the Port of Bari under a criminal order issued on the basis of a Custom Police contraband report. Basically the report says the truck load was illegal. We were just renting the truck to a shipping company and have no idea what they put on the truck. Who is responsible for the load and what can we do to get truck back?
Answer: Transportation Company, Shipping Company and driver, have each their own responsibility and liability. However, when the Custom Police (Guardia di Finanza) finds an illegal load, they report it to the local competent Criminal Court. The Criminal Court then issues a seizure order.
If the extent of each subject’s responsibility and liability is not evident to the Custom Police, for instance based on the transportation or shipping documents, the Criminal Court will most likely issue a blanket order extending responsibility and liability to each subject, resulting in seizure of both the vehicle and the load.
If you can prove that your company was just renting the truck, you can appeal the seizure order, ask for it to be reviewed so that it is limited to the truck’s content, and ask for an authorization to release the truck (without content).
If the appeal is accepted, you shall then contact the local Custom Police and Custom Authority to proceed with unloading the content and pick up the truck.
Depending on the content, some additional steps might be required. For example, in the event that the law requires for the load to be destroyed, such as for cigarettes without the Italian Tobacco Agency Seal, or toys without EU safety mark, the law might require that such load is destroyed.
In other cases, for instance for food without proper origin label, the law might require for lab test to assess whether it is eatable and suitable to be devolved to charitable organization.
Such procedures might take a few weeks since it requires more entities to be involved to plan and schedule activities such as selection of temporary storage, location of demolition, escorted transportation to demolition site etc., in other words several offices and more bureaucracy.
The truck is required to stay within Custom Police custody until the process is completed and the load removed from the truck.
It is advisable “politely” chasing the local offices involved in the bureaucratic steps above to make sure the file goes smoothly and timely from desk to desk without unnecessary delays.
If you have a vehicle stuck at an Italian Custom location contact one of our experienced lawyers for more information and assistance.
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