Merchandise

U.S. residents must declare the total value of all articles acquired abroad (whether new or used, whether dutiable or not, and whether obtained by purchase, as a gift, or otherwise), including those purchases made in duty free stores in the U.S. or abroad, which are in their or their family's possession at the time of arrival. Visitors must declare the total value of all gifts and commercial items, including samples they are bringing with them. The amount of duty to be paid will be determined by a Customs officer. U.S. residents are normally entitled to a duty free exemption of $400 on those items accompanying them; nonresidents are normally entitled to an exemption of$100.

Customs in Ukraine

Customs means: the order of goods and other objects transfer through a border, duty regulations connected with establishing duties, the procedure of duty control and other realizations of Customs policy. Today Customs in Ukraine is developing in direction of harmonization and unification in accordance with the international practice.

Ukraine is building its Customs anew.

In the former Soviet Union, the main occupation of Customs officers was to dig through the luggage of Soviet citizens going and coming from abroad looking for banned books, audio and videotapes, and so on. Customs had little relationship to the economy at that time. Issues related to exports and imports rested within the competence and province of the Ministry for Foreign Trade.

In 1991 it became necessary to build a basically new Customs structure which would be able to function under the new political and economic conditions. The task was quite difficult. Our Customs had to face a lot of problems. First of all many kilometers of Ukrainian borders actually remained unguarded. Smugglers were quick to avail themselves of this opportunity. So, our Customs had to tackle economic and law- enforcement tasks at the same time. In addition, it had to build Customs checkpoints on Ukraine's borders with the former Soviet republics. Ukraine successfully accomplished this task and fully equipped the checkpoints on the borders with Russia, Moldova, Belarus.

Another difficulty Customs had to face was a shortage of personnel. Today 17500 people work at Ukraine's Customs.

Ukraine also needed new laws because the former Customs laws did not regulate economic issues. And now Ukrainian business people see that Customs clearing procedures in Ukraine are the same as in other countries.

Smuggling remains the most difficult problem faced by Customs. Even highly developed countries encounter this kind of crime. Contraband includes mostly excise taxable goods - cigarettes and alcohol. Our Customs combats smuggling successfully.

Until recently, Ukraine had no institution to train Customs officers. But now the Academy of the Customs Service of Ukraine, some other higher educational establishments train specialists for Customs.

Ukraine realizes its Customs policy independently, creates its own Customs system and elaborates duty regulations on its territory.

In the process of pursuing Customs policy Ukrainian Customs houses solve the following main tasks:

protection of national economy;

control of Ukrainian Customs regulations;

imposition of duties in accordance with international treaties on Customs regulations;

application of duty-tariff and non-tariff regulations for goods transferred through the borders;

complex control of financial currency operations together with the Ministry for foreign economic relations;

creation of favourable conditions for accelerating goods and passenger movement through the Customs;

enforcement of laws to combat smuggling and other Customs violations;

cooperation with Customs of other countries and international organizations on Customs matters;

collection of Customs statistics.

So it can be said that Ukraine has finally set up a modern, multifunctional Customs service capable of taking a worthy place in the regulation of a market economy and of contributing to Ukraine's integration into the world economic system.

Some Kinds of Non-Food Stuffs The traditional and most widely accepted system of classifying non­food stuffs consists of some categories: clothing, footwear, haberdashery, perfumery, sporting goods, textiles, crockery and glassware, household goods, electric appliances, jewellery, stationary, toys, etc.

Traditionally clothing may be divided into ready-made clothes, hosiery, knitwear, hats, linen. But according to the sex and age of a person clothing may be divided into: men's wear, women's wear and children's wear. But nowadays women's wear is gradually becoming identical in many cases with men's wear. The names of many articles of clothes are the same in men's and women's wear; for example, heavy-weight coats, light­weight coats, raincoats, anoraks, cloaks, cardigans, pullovers, sweaters, shirts, etc. The name "trousers" may include slacks, pants, jeans, cords.

The dressing of children moves now towards the miniaturization of adult fashion, including cords, velours skirts, jeans, dresses and suits.

Most people try to have in their wardrobes clothes in natural colours and made of natural materials. The prices on such clothes are rather high, but it would be probably explained by the fact that consumers are looking for durability, value and quality and are prepared to make a purchase which will cost them more but which is expected to last them longer.

Speaking about clothing it's impossible not to mention footwear. Footwear is used not only for completing costumes. It has much more important functions, such as to protect the sole of the foot from the heat, cold, dampness, dirt of the ground; to assist the foot to perform some abnormal task in sport, dancing. In the department stores you can buy many varieties of footwear: furlined boots, bootees, dressy courts, bare footed shoes, slippers and so on.

Textiles are divided into cotton, silk, wool, velvet, cotton velvet, chamois and so on.

Besides clothing and footwear we need household utensils: crockery, china, electric appliances, cutlery, pots and pans, vacuum-cleaners, washing machines, cameras, radio and television sets, computers, stereo cassette recorders and many other things.

Haberdashery goods are handbags, combs, wallets and purses, pins and needles, thread, handkerchiefs, umbrellas, watches, clocks, belts, gloves.