In a ruling handed down on January 5, 2023, the Criminal Division of the French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation ) clarified for the first time the obligation of the criminal court to provide reasons when imposing a customs fine.
To understand the scope of this ruling, it is important to bear in mind that, when it comes to setting the grounds for the penalty imposed, it is settled case law that the setting of the amount of the customs fine by the judge is governed not by the rules laid down in the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, but by the provisions of the Customs Code.
In other words, the principle of individualization of fines, as set out in article 132-1 of the French penal code and article 132-20 of the same code, under which "the amount of the fine is determined taking into account the resources and expenses of the offender", does not apply to customs fines. However, the Cour de cassation deduced from the combined reading of article 369 of the Customs Code and articles 485, 512 and 593 of the Code of Criminal Procedure that, in customs matters, any fine must be justified in light of the scale and seriousness of the offence committed, as well as the personality of the offender, whatever the amount of the fine.
Following the appeal to the French Supreme Court, the fine of €120,212 initially imposed was reduced to €1,000.
Thanks to the excellent work of Guillaume Hannotin, avocat à la Cour de cassation.