The UK faces a £20m bill for duties apparently unpaid on imported fresh garlic, it has emerged.
The European Commission has asked the UK to pay the sum in order to comply with EU law on customs duties.
If the UK fails to act within two months, the Commission said it may refer the case to the Court of Justice.
"Between 2005 and 2006, the UK customs authorities allowed imports of fresh garlic from the People’s Republic of China under wrong authorising documents," the Commission said in a statement.
"They have erroneously stated that the goods imported were frozen garlic for which significantly lower import duties apply."
The Commission said it believed the UK authorities failed to act "with all due care" when issuing the authorising documents and, as a consequence, failed to collect the correct amount of duties.
"They are therefore held financially responsible for the loss of own resources (approximately £20m) to the EU budget," it added,
The case was apparently discovered during an inspection visit carried out by OLAF, the European anti-fraud office, in July 2006.
Between 2007 and 2010, several letters were exchanged between London and Brussels, during which time the UK sought to justify its position.
Infringement procedures were launched in 2010, with a Letter of Formal Notice under Article 258 TFEU sent by the Commission.
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