• TAXATION

England and Wales Court of Appeals (Civil Division)

Bloomsbury International Ltd and others v Sea Fish Industry Authority and another

Taxation - Levy of tax on "landed" fish - Statute empowering levy on fish and fish products landed in United Kingdom from member states of European Union - Meaning of "landed" -Whether legislation imposing levy of tax on fish imports from member state of European Union contravening European Union law - Fisheries Act 1981, s 4 (as amended by Sea Fish Industry Authority (Levy Powers) Order and Channel Tunnel (Amendment of the Fisheries Act 1981) Order 1994 - Sea Fish Industry Authority (Levy) Regulations 1995 Confirmatory Order 1996 (SI 1996/160), art 2, Sch, para 4) - Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union ("TFEU"). Arts 28 and 30

Held, when considering sea fish products, it was important to bear in mind that, by s 4(8)(a) of the 1981 Act, parts of a sea fish were treated as sea fish products. Certain processes that could take place on the fishing vessel at sea, in particular de-heading, gutting and filleting, therefore would result in sea fish products as defined. Other sea fish products were the result of processing that was bound in practice to take place on land rather than at sea: the judge had cited smoked fish, cured fish and fishmeal as examples. The narrower meaning of "landed" could sensibly be applied to products processed at sea, in that they were brought to land in the same way as unprocessed fish by the vessel that caught the fish. The narrower meaning was plainly not apt, however, to cover the importation of products processed on land. It followed that the 1995 Regulations were ultra vires s 4 of the 1981 Act in so far as they imposed a levy on imports of sea fish and sea fish products into the UK. The 1995 Regulations involved a material difference of treatment between domestic and imported products. Accordingly, in so far as they imposed a levy on imports from EU member states of sea fish products that had been processed on land, they were contrary to arts 28 and 30 of the TFEU. Therefore, Sea Fish Industry Authority (Levy) Regulations 1995, which empowered the Sea Fish Industry Authority to treat sea fish and sea fish products imported from a member state of the European Union as "landed" in the United Kingdom for the purpose of imposing levies upon them, were ultra vires of s 4 of the Fisheries Act 1981 and contravened arts 28 and 30 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union ("TFEU").

• IMMIGRATION

United Kingdom Supreme Court

R (JS (Sri Lanka)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department

Immigration - Asylum - Asylum seeker active member of organisation committing terrorist acts - Government refusing asylum - Whether asylum seeker excluded from protection of Refugee Convention - Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) (Cmd 9171), Art 1F(a)

Held, an accused was disqualified under art 1F if there were serious reasons for considering him voluntarily to have contributed in a significant way to the organisation's ability to pursue its purpose of committing war crimes, aware that his assistance would in fact further that purpose. The determining factors are (i) the nature and size of the organisation and particularly that part of it with which the asylum-seeker was himself most directly concerned, (ii) whether and, if so, by whom the organisation was proscribed, (iii) how the asylum-seeker came to be recruited, (iv) the length of time he remained in the organisation and what, if any, opportunities he had to leave it, (v) his position, rank, standing and influence in the organisation, (vi) his knowledge of the organisation's war crimes activities, and (vii) his own personal involvement and role in the organisation including particularly whatever contribution he made towards the commission of war crimes.