English for customs officers

EXERCISES

I. Answer the following questions.

1.What are the advantages of placing goods temporarily in Customs warehouses?

2.What operations are permitted in a Customs warehouse?

3.Are operations intended to keep the goods in the same state permitted in a Customs warehouse?

4.Who is interested in entrepôt trade operations?

5.What are exporters permitted to use the warehousing facility for?

6.Are exporters permitted to use the warehousing facility to combine domestic goods with imported goods?

7.Can warehousing procedure be used to promote transshipment operations?

II. Find the words/phrases in the text which follow the verbs below.

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Study the following words and word combinations from the text.

TEXT 4.4. FREE ZONES

With a view to encouraging the development of their international commerce, governments in many countries are looking for new mechanisms of foreign investments into domestic economies. They grant relief from import duties and taxes and provide other concessions in respect of goods introduced to a part of their territory which is generally regarded as being outside the Customs territory1. This part of the territory is referred to as a free zone. Free Economic Zones (FEZ) are territories where domestic and foreign investors can carry out entrepreneurial activities on preferential terms.

Customs-privileged facilities afford to neutralize the cost-raising effects of tariffs and other regulatory measures in the operation of exportrelated activities. Free zones serve the purpose of facilitating the operation of import-dependent export activities by instituting procedures which are simpler than other temporary admission procedures, thereby significantly reducing costly and cumbersome administrative requirements.

Free zones are established by making formal provision in national legislation. As a rule FEZ are formed on the initiative of local authorities with the permission of the central government of the country. Free zones are generally established at seaports, river ports, airports and places with similar geographical advantages. Their main objective is to provide more favourable conditions for the development of foreign economic links.

1 Kyoto Convention. Specific Annex F.1 concerning free zones.

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Easy access to places of entry and exit within the country eliminates the need for goods to cross the Customs territory, thereby reducing the need to apply the usual Customs controls. However, due to the location of certain free zones it may be necessary for goods to be moved across the Customs territory when travelling to/from free zones, from/to seaports, airports or land frontiers (rail and road traffic). In such situations, goods can be permitted to move under a national or international transit procedure.

Free zones may cover the entire port area where several commercial activities are permitted.

Generally, a distinction is made between commercial and industrial free zones. In commercial free zones, the permitted operations are those necessary for the preservation of goods and the usual forms of handling to improve their packaging or marketable quality. Operations which prepare the goods for shipment, such as breaking bulk, grouping of packages, sorting, grading and re-packing, may be undertaken. Other operations in connection with the transport of goods, such as loading, unloading, transshipment and storage, may also be performed in commercial free zones. In industrial free zones, manufacturing, processing or assembly operations are performed with goods being imported for these purposes. Goods of domestic origin or in free circulation in the Customs territory may be allowed into free zones for manufacturing, processing and assembly. In certain countries, the commercial and industrial activities are combined in the same free zone.

Being an integral part of the territory of the country, a free economic zone enjoys the main right to define its social and economic policy independently if this does not contradict the rules and laws of the country. It means that the authorities of the zone can regulate exportimport transactions, set the order of entry, exit and stay for foreign citizens on its territory, establish direct economic and cultural links.

The following six FEZ have been created on the territory of the Republic of Belarus: «Brest», «Vitebsk», «Gomel-Raton», «Grodnoinvest», «Mogilev» and «Minsk».

Apart from enhancing the development of a country's external trade and commerce, the Belarusian free zones are viewed as an effective means of attracting export-oriented industries which are expected to provide investable resources, technology and employment to our country.

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EXERCISES

I. Match the words from the text with their corresponding definitions

II.Translate into English.

1.по инициативе местных 6. современные достижения науки

III. Match left to the right to make a word/phrase combination.

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IV. Find the odd ones out.

A. Free zones are supposed:

B. In commercial free zones, the permitted operations are:

V. Find the noun constructions in the text corresponding to the following definitions.

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1.Для чего создаются свободные зоны?

2.Каким путем промышленные свободные зоны способствуют развитию внешней торговли страны?

3.Как можно нейтрализовать повышение стоимости в результате введения тарифов и других регулирующих средств?

4.Какие процедуры могут значительно сократить дорогостоящие административные требования?

5.Почему некоторые страны дают освобождение от уплаты таможенных пошлин и сборов?

6.В какой свободной зоне можно улучшить товарные качества?

7.Почему свободные зоны рассматриваются как эффективное средство размещения отраслей промышленности, ориентированных на экспорт?

8.Что может обеспечить занятость и усовершенствовать технологию в принимающей стране?

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES

I. Mark the following statements true (T) or false (F). Give your reasons. If the statement is false, give the correct statement.

1.Free economic zones are enclosed areas which are considered outside Customs territory and in which duties on merchandise are deferred, reduced or, in some cases, eliminated. Domestic and foreign merchandise can be brought into a FEZ for the purpose of storage, manufacturing, assembly, salvage, re-packing, repair, re-export, transshipping, exhibit and other operations. Customs duty on products manufactured, assembled or processed in FEZ excludes labour, facility and overhead costs as well as profit.

2.In Belarus the owners of Customs warehouses are licensed by the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Belarus. They must pass an

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examination and obtain a licence from the Personnel Department to do business. The owners of Customs warehouses are to consult with Customs to determine the proper rate of duty or basis for appraisement. They are required to maintain strict confidence about business and transactions.

3.A warehouse is primarily used for the receipt, temporary storage and distribution of goods en route from the production site to the point of consumption. Companies may have their own private warehouses, use public warehouses or use contract warehousing. A public warehouse is one that is managed by the state and which offers rental space on a longterm basis.

4.In general, warehouses do not do basic manufacturing, handle hazardous materials (except in special circumstances) or store goods for extended periods of time (dead storage). Usually services provided by warehouses include storage, shipping, receiving, assembly, inventory control, «pick and pack» operations, labelling, export packaging, repacking, handling returns, special packaging, disposal of damaged goods, repair of damaged goods, return of damaged goods, trucking, billing, order formulation and high security areas.

5.Customs officers and employees may not only offer advice and assistance but also act as brokers for importers and forwarders.

6.Duty must be paid immediately on goods «entered for consumption». Most duties in Belarus are a percentage of the invoiced value of the shipment and are collected by the Belarusian Customs Service. Customs should be contacted before goods are sent to the country to determine if other government agencies regulate the products to be imported. Goods that do not conform to the regulation of these agencies may be seized by Customs.

II. Insert the right words. Choose from the list below.

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BONDED WAREHOUSE

(1) usually have to pay (2) to the government when they import goods. They declare the goods and the (3) collect the duty. When the importer doesn't pay the (4) immediately, the goods are stored in a (5). The importer has to pay (6) – the cost of keeping the goods in the warehouse and the importer can't take the goods out of the (7) until he pays the (8).

III. Study the following extract from the EC Customs Code. Translate it into Russian. Discuss with your classmates if the differentiation described is the same in the Customs Code of the Customs Union.

«...Customs-approved treatment or use of goods» means:

a.the placing of goods under a Customs procedure;

b.their entry;

c.their re-exportation;

d.their destruction;

e.their abandonment to the Exchequer.

«Customs procedure» means:

a.release of goods;

b.transit;

c.Customs warehousing;

d.inward processing;

e.processing under Customs control;

f.temporary admission;

g.outward processing;

h.exportation ...

IV. Punctuate the following texts.

Text 1

(Excerpts from Kyoto Convention. Specific Annex E.3 concerning Customs warehouses)

Customs warehouse may be either a public warehouse or a private warehouse «public warehouse» means a Customs warehouse available for use by any person for the warehousing of goods «private warehouse» means a Customs warehouse reserved for the warehousing of goods by the warehousekeeper the warehousekeeper is the person authorized to operate the Customs warehouse the depositor is the person bound by the

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declaration placing the goods under the Customs warehousing procedure or to whom the rights and obligations of such a person have been transferred operation of a Customs warehouse is subject to the issue of an authorization by the Customs authorities unless the said authorities operate the Customs warehouse themselves any person wishing to operate a Customs warehouse must make a request in writing containing the information required for granting the authorization in particular demonstrating that an economic need for warehousing exists.

Text 2

Where the purpose of the processing operation is the repair of temporary exported goods and such repair is carried out in return for payment the partial relief from import duties is granted by establishing the amount of duties applicable on the basis of the taxation elements pertaining to the compensating products on the date of acceptance of the declaration of release for free circulation of those products and taking into account as the Customs value an amount equal to the repair costs provided that those costs represent the only consideration provided by the holder of the authorization and are not influenced by any links between that holder and the operator.

V. Finish the two sentences:

1.«Supervision by the Customs authorities» means...

2.«Control by the Customs authorities» means...

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