Comptroller-General of Customs v Pharm-A-Care Laboratories Pty Ltd [2020] HCA 2

HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

KIEFEL CJ, BELL, GAGELER, KEANE AND GORDON JJ

COMPTROLLER-GENERAL OF CUSTOMS APPELLANT

AND

PHARM-A-CARE LABORATORIES PTY LTD RESPONDENT

Comptroller-General of Customs v Pharm-A-Care Laboratories Pty Ltd [2020] HCA 2 Date of Hearing: 17 October 2019 Date of Judgment: 5 February 2020 S161/2019

ORDER

Appeal dismissed.

On appeal from the Federal Court of Australia

Representation

N J Williams SC with D P Hume for the appellant (instructed by Australian Government Solicitor)

S B Lloyd SC with J E Taylor for the respondent (instructed by Clayton Utz)

Notice: This copy of the Court's Reasons for Judgment is subject to formal revision prior to publication in the Commonwealth Law Reports.

CATCHWORDS

Comptroller-General of Customs v Pharm-A-Care Laboratories Pty Ltd

Customs and excise – Customs tariff – Tariff classification – Where no duty owed if goods classifiable as medicaments under heading 3004 of Sch 3 to Customs Tariff Act 1995 (Cth) – Where Administrative Appeals Tribunal found vitamin preparations and garcinia preparations classifiable under heading 3004 – Where Comptroller-General of Customs contended vitamin preparations and garcinia preparations classifiable under heading 1704 ("sugar confectionery") or heading 2106 ("food preparations") so that duty owed – Whether vitamin preparations and garcinia preparations excluded from heading 3004 by Note 1(a) to Ch 30 of Sch 3 to Customs Tariff Act – Whether Administrative Appeals Tribunal erred in classifying vitamin preparations and garcinia preparations under heading 3004.

Words and phrases – "duties of customs", "error of law", "essential character", "food preparations", "food supplements", "foods", "French language", "Harmonized System", "Harmonized System Convention", "medicament", "most akin", "ordinary meaning", "products for therapeutic or prophylactic uses", "tariff classification", "Vienna Convention", "vitamin".