Customs surveillance

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Under customs control is understood in Germany the general measures of the customs authorities to ensure compliance with the customs legislation and, where appropriate, other goods applicable under customs supervision provisions to ensure (Art. 5 no. 27 UDC ). Customs surveillance is one of the main areas of activity of the customs authorities.

Objectives of customs supervision

Extent of customs supervision

All traffic with goods across the border of the customs territory of the European Union and the borders of free zones is monitored (Section 1 (1) sentence 1 ZollVG).

In addition, according to Section 1, Paragraph 2 of the Customs Ordinance also includes the movement of goods subject to excise duty (e.g. cigarettes, alcohol, mineral oils) across the border of the German consumption tax collection area and in accordance with Section 1 (3a) of the Customs Ordinance to combat money laundering monitors the import, export and transit of means of payment in the customs territory of the Community.

Customs surveillance begins

From the moment they are brought in, all goods brought into the customs territory of the Community are automatically subject to customs supervision (Art. 134 (1) UCC). It is initially irrelevant whether the goods are Community or non-Community goods.

Community goods that have been declared for export, outward processing , the transit procedure or the customs warehousing procedure are under customs supervision from the time the customs declaration is accepted (Article 158 (3) UCC).

End of customs supervision

The goods that are under customs supervision remain under customs supervision as long as it is necessary to determine their customs status, i. H. it is necessary to determine whether the goods are Community or non-Community goods (Art. 134 Para. 1 Subparagraph 3 UCC).

If the imported goods are then granted the status of community goods, customs surveillance ends.

In the case of Community goods that have been declared for export, outward processing, transit or customs warehousing, customs supervision ends when they are removed from the customs territory of the Community or destroyed or destroyed or until the customs declaration is declared invalid (Art. 267 UZK).

Measures to carry out customs surveillance

Customs Administration Powers

In order to enable customs supervision to be carried out, the customs administration has been granted various powers:

For example, the customs officers in the area near the border (Section 14 (1) sentence 1 ZollVG) u. a. Stop people and means of transport and check ID cards and transport documents. Baggage, means of transport and their cargo can be checked on the spot or at another suitable location to determine compliance with customs regulations. Those affected must provide information about the origin of the goods and tolerate the taking of free samples and provide the necessary assistance (Section 10 (1) ZollVG).

However, if the customs officers are outside the border area, they are granted the same powers according to § 10 (1) ZollVG in accordance with § 10 (2) ZollVG.

If there are sufficient factual indications that they are carrying goods that are not subject to customs supervision, they can be stopped and physically searched (Section 10 (3) ZollVG).

In addition, Swiss Post presents consignments to the customs administration for which there is sufficient factual evidence that they have violated prohibitions and restrictions (Section 5 (1) ZollVG). The mail is then opened by the post office and presented to customs for inspection.

Obligations of the customs parties

In addition, various duties have been imposed on the parties involved in customs, which are intended to ensure the implementation of customs surveillance, e.g. B .:

  • the obligation to bring all imported goods immediately to a specific customs office on the prescribed traffic routes (so-called customs road compulsion ) (Art. 139 para. 1 UCC),
  • the obligation to import goods only during certain opening times of the customs offices (§ 3 ZollVG),
  • the obligation, goods racks (Art. 139 UDC)
  • the obligation to submit an entry summary report (Art. 127 UZK),
  • the obligation to submit a customs declaration (Art. 158 UZK),
  • the temporary storage (Art. 144, 145 UDC).

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