Customs registers the goods that are imported and exported, collecting the corresponding taxes.
A customs office is a public agency whose function is the registration of goods that are exported and imported , collecting the corresponding taxes. Customs customs are generally located in border areas and on the coasts , since products enter and leave the country through these places.
A word from the Pelvi language ( dēwān ) that can be translated as “file” passed into classical Arabic as dīwān and then into Hispanic Arabic as addiwán . The etymological evolution of the term converted it, in our language , into customs .
Customs function
When controlling the merchandise arriving in a nation, customs can seize those products that threaten public health or safety . Thus, by not leaving customs, these products ultimately do not reach the market or the streets. Suppose that, upon inspecting a container full of toys, customs authorities discover that these goods contain a substance considered carcinogenic. Thus, to prevent children from having access to these dangerous toys, customs does not authorize the products to be distributed in the country.
Customs also contribute to protecting national industry . A government may decide to impose an excise tax on imported footwear to favor local manufacturers. Therefore, when imported shoes arrive at customs, the importer must pay a tax to remove them. This makes the product more expensive and makes national footwear more competitive.
In each country, there are entities that bring together and direct the different customs: the General Directorate of Customs in Argentina , the National Customs Service in Chile , the National Superintendence of Customs and Tax Administration in Peru , etc.
Customs exercises control over merchandise entering or leaving a country.
Smuggling and fraud
Filtering the entry of goods into a country through customs clearance benefits its government, since it allows it to maintain exhaustive control and collect taxes and tariffs, thanks to which its monetary income also increases each time it imports goods. some good
However, any benefit that a country can obtain through this customs control process is frustrated when smuggling comes into play, a criminal practice that has been in our culture for centuries and that consists of forcing the entry of certain items. , either those that customs would not allow through or any other, with the aim of not paying taxes and selling them outside the law.
The failure to pay taxes is known as customs fraud and generally goes hand in hand with smuggling, although sometimes only fraud is practiced. The most important thing is that both put the stability and security of a country at risk, both economically and socially.
When a mafia organization manages to evade its obligations before customs to transport a certain merchandise , it has the opportunity to sell it at a lower price than the current one in the local market; In this way, the public begins to consume the cheapest option, in the hands of people who do not contribute to the development of the country and ignore decent merchants . This is normal in many parts of the world, with products ranging from bread to clothing and toys.