14. My speciality. Customs inspector

Lead-in:

1. Goods Management – товарознавство

2. Customs Activity – митна справа

3. cargo – вантаж

4. to prevent smuggling – запобігти контрабанди

5. various duties – різноманітні збори

6. drug law enforcement – виконання закону про наркотики

I am a student of the faculty of Marketing, Trade an Customs Activity at Donetsk State University of Economics and Trade named after M. Tugan-Baranovsky. There are 3 departments here: the department of Marketing, Goods Management and Customs Activity.

My speciality is Customs inspector. Until recently Ukraine had no institution to train Customs specialists. But now some higher educational establishments, and Donetsk State University of Economics and Trade among them, train such specialists.

The work of Customs inspectors is very important and many-sided. They deal with passengers, cargoes, transport. The passengers going through customs have to declare certain items they are bringing into the country. Customs inspectors are trained to recognize the passengers who are carrying things into a country illegally to prevent smuggling.

As with merchandise processing, modern computer technology and communications are being used extensively to facilitate the processing of the ever - increasing numbers of travellers entering different countries.

Besides, working with passengers, checking imports and exports there are many other types of work done by Customs inspector. They control payments of various duties, see that appropriate licences are held, inspect the books and accounts and see that the right amount of tax is paid.

According to Customs regulations, one of the duties of a Customs inspector is to prevent drug smuggling. Drug smuggling is a very serious problem nowadays. Drug traffickers use any and every means of transport to smuggle drugs from source area to their market destination.

There are many effective ways of detecting cases of drug smuggling but the best tool for drug law enforcement is a well-trained and experienced Customs experts. The majority of the drugs seized resulted from the work of such officers.

In order to be specialists our students study foreign languages, mathematics, chemistry, psychology. Cooperation between Customs services in different countries is an important element in this work, that is why foreign languages are very important for Customs inspectors. Besides, great attention is paid to special subjects.

I like my future speciality and I think that we, young specialists, must do all we can to meet the requirements of Ukraine in full.

Questions for comprehension check-up and discussion:

1. What is the name of your faculty?

2. What are the names of your faculty’s departments?

3. What is the name of your speciality?

4. What is the work of Customs inspectors connected with?

5. What is the most important duty of Customs inspectors?

6. What subjects do you study?

15. Market

Lead-in:

1. goods and services – товари і послуги

2. spot market – ринок наявного товару, “спот”

3. futures market –ф’ючерсьний ринок

4. commodity market – товарна біржа, ринок товарів

5. foreign exchange market – валютна біржа

6. Exchange Rate Mechanism – механізм валютного курсу

7. exchange rate fluctuations – коливання валютного курсу

A market is gathering of people for buying, selling and exchanging goods or services. So in economics it is the network of dealings between buyers and sellers. These dealings may be regular and organized, spasmodic and unsystematic.

According to the character of concluded contracts, markets can be divided into 2 types: spot markets and futures markets. The spot market is a place where goods, currency and securities are available for immediate delivery.

The futures market is a place where goods, currency and securities are available for delivery at a future date for a price fixed in advance.

There are 3 types of markets according to their function: commodity markets/exchanges, stock markets/exchanges; foreign exchange markets.

Commodity markets/exchanges are the places where raw materials and some manufactured goods are bought and sold for immediate or future delivery.

Stock markets/exchanges are the markets where stocks and shares are bought and sold under fixed rules, but at prices controlled by supply and demand. Supply – the behaviour of sellers and demand – the behaviour of buyers are essential features of the maket. The main idea of stock exchanges is to enable public companies, the state and local authorities to attract capital by way of selling securities to investors. Stock markets are secondary markets by their nature. Secondary markets trade in existing securities, as opposed to new issues traded on a primary market. New issues make up an insignificant part of the market turnover. The development of the secondary market provides for liquidity and reducing the risks of investments.

Foreign exchange markets are the markets where foreign currencies are traded. Market makers acting on foreign exchange markets are either dealers, firms or foreign-exchange brokers.

Such markets are not entirely free as free markets where prices are allowed to rise and fall according to supply and demand, without prices being fixed by governments. Such a situation is called “clean floating”. Though many countries removed all exchange controls, i.e. a set of restrictions imposed by a government on buying and selling foreign currencies, the Central Banks of various countries influence to some extent the market situations, influence the Exchange Rate Mechanism. The Exchange Rate Mechanism it is the scheme used by countries in the European Monetary System to keep the relative values of the currencies within agreed limits. The aim of the Exchange Rate Mechanism is to stabilise exchange rate fluctuations. Such currencies are called “currency snakes” and the rate of exchange is called “a managed currency”.

So the market reflects any change in the economy. It is sensitive to interest rates, inflation, employment and political events in any country.

Questions for comprehension check-up and discussion:

1. What is a market?

2. Into how many types can markets be divided according to the character of concluded contracts?

3. How many types of markets are there according to their function?

4. What is a commodity market?

5. What is a stock market?

6. What is traded on foreign exchange markets?

7. What is the aim of the Exchange Rate Mechanism?