Customs Officers Must Not Be Given Free Reign

Customs Legalization

Customs legalization in any country requires that the importer or exporter has the primary responsibility for the provision of customs declarations and documents, to the specification which the law demands at the time of shipment. This pattern is followed by most customs authorities around the world. However, Customs also recognize that many importers and exporters do not have the knowledge or expertise to undertake the declarations themselves, and therefore it uses the services of a freight forwarder to make the declaration for them. Under these conditions, Customs takes the view that the importer or exporter has employed the services of an "expert". Therefore, the forwarder shares some responsibility for the accuracy and correctness of declarations and documentation.

It is not uncommon for Customs to levy a fine on both shipper and forwarder when an error occurs based on the above. The level of any fine imposed will vary depending on the degree of the offence involved.

7.3.1. Give the English equivalents of the following collocations:

налагать штраф, признавать право, правильность заполнения декларации, уровень причиненного ущерба.

7.3.2 Find out English and Russian equivalents for the words presented below:

A. legalizе, responsibility, demand, shipment, recognize, undertake, freight, forwarder, shipper;

B. ответственность, признавать, экспедитор, предпринимать, требование (требовать), узаконить, стоимость перевозки, погрузка, грузоотправитель

7.4. Scan through the following text about the unjustified searches being made by the customs inspectors in the USA.

Text C

Customs officers have the important responsibility to search people arriving in the United States to prevent illegal substances and weapons from being carried across our borders. To perform their duty, they have extraordinary power to perform searches, but these cannot be unlimited. To protect the innocent, our system of laws has always included checks and balances against government excesses. Unfortunately, the Trade Act of 2002, a bill that was recently passed by Congress and signed by the President, contains troubling provisions that essentially cancel any protection against unconstitutional searches by Customs officials.

This act expanded immunity in ways that would make it nearly impossible for a person to seek redress for an unconstitutional search and allow them to open outbound international mail without a warrant.

A federal report in 2000 found that while black female U.S. citizens were nine times more likely than their white counterparts to be subject to searches by the Customs Service, they were less than half as likely to be found carrying contraband. In the aftermath of this report, the Customs Service started to take steps to address the problem of racial profiling, but it has not done enough. The expansion of immunity is unnecessary.

Customs officials already have protections from unwarranted claims against them. There is no justification to give them essentially unchecked authority to perform searches.

7.4.1. Do you agree with the point of view of the author? Divide into two groups.

Group A. Discuss three main disadvantages of introducing such extreme measures in Russia from the point of view of tourists.

Group B. Discuss three main advantages of introducing this system in Russia from the point of view of customs officials.

7.4.2. Say whether the following statements are true or false:

1) The act of expanded immunity for customs officers in the USA was approved by the majority of the population.

2) The bill essentially cancels any protection against unconstitutional searches by Customs officials.

3) Black female U.S. citizens were nine times more likely than their white counterparts to be subject to searches by the Customs Service.

4) They were also less than half as likely to be found carrying contraband.

5) The U.S. Customs Service started to take steps to address the problem of racial profiling and has done enough on this matter.

7.5. Grammar Assignments.

7.5.1. Find in the text sentences with the Participles and define their forms and functions.

7.5.2. Find in the text sentences with the Gerund and define their forms and functions.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-27