According to Austrian finance courts’ practice, the protection of legitimate expectations in the context of VC 42 is granted in equity proceedings according to Art 120 UCC. The Higher Regional Court Vienna recently decided that import VAT may not even be imposed on the forwarder acting as indirect representative in good faith, insofar rendering this practice obsolete. The ECJ decided last year that the indirect representative is generally not liable for import VAT. Ulrich Schrömbges takes a closer look at these decisions.
