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EU:Ink cartridges are now officially ink
May
2007In a landmark judicial ruling, the European Court of Justice has
finally declared that printer ink-jet cartridges are a form of ink.
The
decision overturns an earlier ruling from another authority that they
weren’t ink, they were printer parts.The case was brought to resolve
the issue of whether ink-jet cartridges were subject to import duty.
Now that ink cartridges are officially ink, importers must pay a 6.5%
tariff – whereas previously, when the VAT and Duties Tribunal decided
they were parts, they were exempt.Epson Telford Ltd, importers
of the printers, had argued that the cartridges were an essential to
the printer, which could not operate without them being in place, and
that therefore they were parts. But the judge concluded that ‘the
purpose of the cartridge is to provide the ink,’ and therefore they
were ink.Mr Justice Henderson said in his decision: ‘This may sound
like a statement of the blindingly obvious.’However, he added, ‘but in
my judgment it is important in an area as technical as this not to lose
sight of the wood for the trees, and not to be distracted by technical
features and refinements.’
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