- Changes in Laws and Regulations
- General Customs Act
- What is The General Customs Act?
- Outline of the General Customs Act
Outline of the General Customs Act
The General Customs Act (Adw) unites the inspection powers of the Customs for customs supervision and customs inspection of goods and movements of goods In future the Customs will have just one set of inspection powers that apply to the majority of the tasks (both tax-related and non-tax-related)
The General Customs Act also has a larger geographic application area than the former Customs Act
Amount of fine and acts that incur fines
The maximum fine has been increased to € 300. A number of new acts that incur fines has been added, such as:
- failure to follow the compulsory itinerary route
- failure to declare on time under the terms of customs transportation
- failure to comply with license requirements
Repeat investigation
The advent of the new Customs Act means that it is no longer possible to apply for a repeat inspection. After the goods have been inspected, a further investigation may be performed. A decision will be made based on these investigations and other declaration data. If you do not agree with this decision, you may object.
Costs
Administration charges for such work as the destruction of goods have been revised. There will now only be a charge in limited cases.
Modernisation
The General Customs Act adapts customs legislation to suit the changing times. For example, new criteria have been introduced for the inspection of an individual’s clothing (private inspection) with scanning devices
Acts that will cease to exist
On 1 August 2008 (the date of commencement of the General Customs Act) the following Acts cease to exist:
- the Statistics Act
- the Import and Export Act
- regulations based on the Statistics Act and the Import and Export Act (with the exception of one single transitional provision)
So far as necessary, provisions from these Acts have been included in the General Customs Act or the General Customs Decree and the General Customs Regulation connected to it.
In addition to this, a new decree and a new scheme on Strategic goods will be drawn up. Please go to www.exportcontrole.ez.nl for more information (only available in Dutch).
