FHDDS52160 - Penalties, sanctions and offences: penalties – policy: Forfeiture of goods

FHDDS primary legislation (section 54 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2017) provides that goods are liable to forfeiture in the following circumstances:

• The goods are being stored by a person who is carrying on an imported goods fulfilment business without being registered for FHDDS;
• Those goods are being stored by the person in the course of carrying on that imported goods fulfilment business.

The first criterion should be a straightforward fact to determine. The second criterion is only likely to be relevant where the person operates an imported goods fulfilment business alongside other business activities. Under FHDDS legislation we would only be able to seize goods being stored by the business in an imported goods fulfilment house capacity. This means that we would not be able to seize any other goods such as, for example, goods that can be shown to be:

• Owned by the business itself.
• Goods being stored on behalf of an owner who is a UK established business.
• Goods that have not been imported.

The legislation provides that any goods liable to forfeiture are to be forfeited under the terms of CEMA 1979. Guidance on the process to follow for any such seizures can be found here:

Forfeiture of other goods