Payment of interest on returned sums that were unlawfully recovered by the customs authorities in the EU Member States and their assessment by the EU courts

In business practice, the customs authorities often recover from the traders (business entities) (or sometimes – refuse to pay to these persons) various duties, charges, levies, or sanctions administered by them, even though such recovery or refusing to pay them at the later date may be declared illegal, contrary to the EU law, e.g. by national courts. Accordingly, in such a situation the question arises whether such wrongly recovered and/or paid sums (customs duties, other charges, penalties) administered by the customs authorities in the EU Member States must be repaid together with additionally calculated interest for the period during which the person concerned was unlawfully deprived of the relevant sums of money? The article analyses how such issues should be addressed in the light of recent case law of the European Court of Justice (CJEU).