The UK Supreme Court in JTI Polska Sp Zoo v Jakubowski

This short article discusses the decision of the UK Supreme Court decided JTI Polska Sp Zoo v Jakubowski, on the question whether excise duty payable due to the loss of the cargo, could be claimed by cargo interest for the road haulier as “other charges” under article 23(4) of the CMR. The decision settled uncertainty in the law that had been caused by conflicting decisions on the matter in the UK.
The article explains why the Supreme Court did not go into much detail whether excise duty should be compensated as “other charges”, but instead decided the case principally on considerations of procedure. The requirements the House of Lords (as it then was) set out via the 1966 Practice Statement and related case-law are examined. It is argued that the decision in Polska must be understood against this background, rather than taken as a confirmation of the appropriateness of compensating excise duty as other charges.