Text C Customs Role In The International Trade

Planning for any international movement must take into account, at the very earliest moment, the arrangements for dealing with customs activities, whether in this country, or overseas. The Customs' role embodies that of statistician, policeman and tax collector all in the one function, and therefore plans must be made in advance to ensure that the correct information is available on the documents, the correct laws are complied with, and, finally, that funds are available to pay any taxes due.

Text D Customs Procedure Codes Are Bound To Be Changed Traditionally, goods being imported or exported have been cleared at the port of departure or arrival. This seems bound to change as Customs are already actively encouraging shippers to arrange clearance inland at their own premises. Plans announced also include the greater use of customs warehousing to delay the payment of duty and VAT until the very last moment, thereby improving cashflow and business planning. Customs procedure codes and the rules which govern them also seem certain to be relaxed, and made more flexible.

 

Unit 9 Customs Rules Violation

9.1.1 Read the following words and their translation. Memorize them:

smuggling - контрабанда transparency - прозрачность make use of - использовать interception - перехват priority – приоритетный, важный guise - обертка freight - груз unlawful - незаконный tolling – дорожный сбор detour - обходной obligation - обязательство violation – нарушение

9.1.2 Check up the meaning of the following verbs:

determine guard resort re address penetrate combat re load evade

9.2 Read the text and translate it using the dictionary

Under conditions of development of the market economy and rapid growth of foreign economic relations of the state, matters of an uncompromising fight against smuggling had already come beyond limits of criminal and administrative categories being one of the priority tasks for guarding economic interests of Russia. This fight is waged by the Customs Service in cooperation with the colleagues from other law-enforcement agencies.

We may state the fact that criminals specializing in illegal foreign economic operations have lately been changing methods of their activity. First of all, they try to make use of opportunities of illegal transit transportations, execute unlawful operations with customer-supplied raw materials (so-called ”tolling”) and evade taxes. Criminals are widely practicing reloading, readdressing and simply physical interception of freights. As a result, a part of excisable goods that are transported by transit is “sunk” at Russian territory and doesn’t reach customs houses of destination. The use of such a way of tax evasion as import of goods in the guise of a property liable to an obligation of returning it back (exhibitions, completing articles, etc.) is becoming wider.

To prevent smuggling modern methods and techniques have been developed that help customs officers examine the inside of the luggage and cargo. TV-cameras and monitors are installed everywhere at the customs house. They are able to detect everything, even if it has been concealed in the very secret corner. Customs men know from experience the exact places of concealment of goods. It may be a double bottom or cover of a suitcase, a hollowed book, an inside pocket, a tooth-paste tube, a stick: even toys and dolls can be used for that.

Fight against smuggling of stolen or illegally acquired cars, counteraction to smuggling of cultural values, illegal traffic of narcotics and “sinking” of goods – these are the main issues for Customs Service activity. (1600 symbols)

 

9.2.1 Give the English equivalents of the following collocations:

широко практикуется, изменять виды деятельности, культурные ценности, нелегальный провоз наркотических средств, достичь таможенного пункта, жить в условиях прозрачности границ, прибегать (к чему-либо), средства борьбы.

9.3 Newspaper Stories

9.3.1 When you read a newspaper you never want to read all the articles and stories. Usually you check the headlines and just choose to read those articles which look interesting. Look at these three newspaper headlines:

SARS Measures At Customs

Customs Bust Smuggling Soviet Coins and Medals

Customs Foils Smuggling of 80,000 Cigarettes Packs

Which headlines do you think will have stories of interest to you?

9.3.2 Look at the following list of words. They all come from the stories that

go with the headlines. Which words do you think go with which headline? Why?

cultural value passenger (n) arrival (n) require(v) detain(v) inscription (n) confiscate (v) brand (n) order(n) seize (v)

SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrom)

9.3.3 Choose one headline only and read the story for the headline you’ve chosen:

Text 1

Primorye customs officers detained a Chinese man on Tuesday who tried to smuggle out Soviet coins and medals with cultural value, the customs authorities said. The 24-year-old Yan Khan Si, returning from a business trip, carried three medals with the inscription "Veteran of Labor," one dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Armed Forces of the USSR, a World War Two order and nine Soviet coins dating back to 1922 and 1957. He said that he intended them for his collection in his Harbin homers.

Text 2

The Federal Government is planning to introduce new customs measures for all passengers entering Australia to help identify people who may have been exposed to the SARS virus. As part of the immigration process, plane or sea arrivals already fill out an incoming passenger card (IPC), which requires personal information and details on food, plant or animal matter being brought into Australia. The Government now intends to introduce an additional card, which will contain questions to determine the extent to which a person may have been exposed to SARS, the deadly pneumonia which has already killed more than 500 people worldwide.

Text 3

AMMAN — The Customs Department seized an estimated 80,000 packs of cigarettes at dawn Sunday and foiled an attempt to smuggle 40 kilogrammes of silver into the country two days ago, a senior department official said on Sunday. “The cigarettes, which included both US Marlboro and French Gauloises brands, were confiscated in Karamah near the eastern border with Iraq,” Department Director General Mahmoud Qteishat said. Even though Marlboro and Gauloises are being locally manufactured, attempts to smuggle the brands into the country are on the increase.

9.3.4 Say whether the following statements are true or false:

1) The Customs agency is planning to introduce new measures only for female passengers entering Australia. 2) The Customs Department in Amman seized 40 kilos of silver. 3) Smuggler of Soviet orders told he had intended them for his relatives. 4) Marlboro and Gauloises are not manufactured in Amman. 5) The smuggler from Harbin tried to smuggle out nine coins three orders and two medals from Russia. 6) Attempts to smuggle cigarettes into Amman are decreasing.

9.3.5 Match a line in A with a line in B (one item has been done for you):

a. if you seize something, you usually	1 marking a surface with something written (esp. some name)
b. an order is	2 take hold of eagerly and forcefully.
c. to smuggle	3 to take goods from one country to another illegally
d. inscription means	4 a serious desease of the lungs with inflammation and difficulty in breathing
e. pneumonia	5 a system for calculating amount size, weight, etc.
f. to expose to	6 to uncover, to leave unprotected
g. measure	7 a special honor award given for service, bravery, etc.

 

9.4 Comprehension Check. Read the article about an anti-drug raid in Hawaii, the USA. The events of the story are given not in chronological order. Read five jumbled paragraphs and restore the article

9.4.1 Find the following words and collocations in your dictionary. They will help you while reading this text:

law inforcement significant (adj) dismantle (v) “dirty money” suspect (v) distribute (v) resident(n) ten-fold increase squeeze(v) raid (n) wrap (v) black tar cocaine investigation (n) location (n)

 

Text B

For Mexican drug ring in Hawaii, aloha means goodbye... a. Operation Pipeline took off on Thanksgiving weekend 2000, and law enforcement officials had already arrested 18 suspects - residents and Mexican nationals in the country illegally - and deported a number of them before the final raid on December 20, 2001.

b. In a dawn raid a few days before Christmas, Customs special agents in Hawaii hit 10 different locations, arresting 16 individuals suspected of smuggling and distributing black tar cocaine, and seizing significant amounts of "dirtymoney," guns, and illegal narcotics - 20 pounds of black- tar heroin wrapped in electrical tape, and squeezed in among yard plants in ordinary, everyday containers.

c. Operation Pipeline was over. It had been a 13-month investigation, acampaign that involved Customs, the FBI, the National Guard, the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. attorney, and all four county police departments. "We have totally dismantled the organization," an official from the Hawaii Police Department said. And that appears to have been no small feat.

d. About 20 pounds of heroin and the $160,000 seized during the raid represent only part of the $2 million worth of heroin the drug ring distributed during its four years of operation in Hawaii.

e. From 1997 to 2000, police statistics reported a ten-fold increase in the number of people arrested for heroin possession. Law enforcement officials across the Hawaii Islands say that heroin and crystal methamphetamine have clearly overtaken cocaine and marijuana as the new "drugs of choice," and that some users combine heroin and "ice" to counter the harsh reentry.

9.4.3 What do the following numbers mentioned in the text refer to?

20 $2mln 13 $160, 000 18 10

Grammar Assignments

9.5.1 Fill in each space in the following sentences with a verb given in brackets in a suitable form:

1) If you (follow) the customs instructions and if you do not break any law, you (enjoy) your trip abroad. 2) If you (carry) goods for commercial purpose, go to the channel indicated by the red symbol.

3) If you (catch) with goods that are prohibited or restricted, or goods in excess of your Customs allowances, you (risk) heavy fines and possibly a prison sentence.

4) You could pass through the green channel only if you (not have) any goods to declare to Customs.

5) If you (carry) any commercial goods, or goods belonging to your employer, such as laptop computers, you must declare them in the Red Channel.

9.5.2 Fill each space in the following text with one suitable verb from the box:

working loaded seized discovered was arrested alerted to appeared weighting U.S. Customs Service inspectors... at the Otay Mesa port of entry on Friday evening... over three tons of marijuana from a tractor-trailer truck... with a cargo of furniture. The seizure was made at around 6p.m. on July 19, after inspectors noticed that the driver... extremely nervous. During a secondary examination, a Customs narcotics detector dog... to the trailer and its load of sofas. Inspectors... a false front wall behind which were 2.125 wrapped packages of marijuana... 7,513 pounds and valued at $3,4 million. The 25-year-old driver... by U.S. Customs special agents and subsequently transported to the Metropolitan Correctional Centre.