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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.20534/EJLPS-16-4-16-20
Miloshoska Danijela, "St. Kliment Ohridski" University Bitola PhD in Law, Associate Professor, Faculty for tourism and hospitality-Ohrid E-mail: dancesmilevska@yahoo.com
Security roll of the Macedonian customs
Abstract: This paper analyzes security role of the Macedonian customs. Using statistical methods, calculations will be made on the indicators on the security role of the Macedonian customs grouped in to two main groups: Indicators on the crime detection and Indicators on the implementation of risk management approach.
Keywords: Macedonian customs, Security, indicators, risk management, crime detection.
Introduction The legal basis for application of risk manage-
Today, as a result of all changes on the global lev- ment by Customs is provided in the Standards of el, there have been a significant number of risks of safety in the field of trade. It is very important to note and understand the relevance of security measures taken by the State agencies involved in this process. Customs authorities around the world conduct and supervise cross-border movement of consignments having a unique role to provide security to the international movement of goods and services.
Security is a state of being free of danger or threat. Security means safety, as well as the measures taken to be safe or protected.
In 2005 The European Commission work program noted that "security is one of the primary expectations of European citizens" [3, 7]. The European Commission in 2007 published a paper that defines security of the European Union's external borders "as the capacity of these borders to constitute a barrier, or at least a reliable filter, for its member States against threats to: 1. The effectiveness of checks and surveillance; 2. Compliance with EU or national regulations; 3. The level of internal security in the common area of freedom of movement; 4. Law and order of the national security of EU member States, except with regard to the military defense of the EU's external borders against aggression in cases in which one or more third countries openly commit aggression or claim responsibility for it." [4, 6-8].
Implementation of risk management approach in the Macedonian customs administration
Chapter 6 of the General Annex of the revised Kyoto Convention.
Implementation of the risk management approach in the Macedonian customs administration (MCA) started in 2002 with application of the selectivity control method in some Customs offices, for today to be general policy in all Customs offices in the MCA. For that purpose in the Sector of Controls and Investigation was established Risk Analysis Department (RARAD) as an organizational unit. Supporting legal framework was needed for further development of the risk management approach. Risk management approach was imposed in the Customs Law and other customs regulations. The risk management objective is efficient and effective selection of high risk shipments and channeling the available resources towards this kind of shipments, but enabling the legal no-risk trade free movement with minimal delay at the same time.
Risk areas determined with the Guidelines on selective controls of customs operations [2, 3-4] are:
1. Avoiding payment of taxes by: Declaring and accepting improper customs value, Declaring and accepting improper heading, Declaring and accepting improper origin/preferences, Discharging of import for processing, Discharging of outward processing, Unlawful removal of goods from customs supervision, Failure to report imported goods for customs clearance.
2. Threatening the safety and reliability in terms of public health, environment and consumers, including proper application of measures concerning import and export of goods to and from the Republic of Macedonia by: Smuggling of weapons, Smuggling of drugs and precursors, Money laundering and financing terrorism, Smuggling endangered animal and plant species, Smuggling of nuclear and radioactive material, Smuggling of high technology and weapons, Illicit trade in dual use, Smuggling of cultural heritage, Trafficking in counterfeit/pirated goods, Environmental crime and Trafficking.
Risk areas determined in this document are not permanent but can be modified according to the basic responsibilities of the Customs Administration.
Determined risk areas are the main basis for identification of risks and analyzes done by the RAD in terms of likelihood and consequence, thereby producing an estimated level of risks. The process continues with assess and prioritizes risks by comparing estimated levels of risk against the pre-established criteria, and classifies those risks as high, medium or low. After deciding which risks are acceptable, follows development and implementation of specific management plan in which risk indicators and risk profiles are determined. The information's of the risk profiles are used as selection criteria on control channels for the customs control. The Macedonian Customs Administration uses "red", "yellow", "blue", and 'green' channels for customs control. The use of the red channel results in a mandatory physical and documentary inspection of the goods; the yellow channel requires documentary control only; the blue channel requires control at a later stage-post clearance control, and the green channel results in immediate release of the goods with no control.
Indicators on the security role of the Macedonian customs.
Macedonian customs administration is an important state body operating under the umbrella of the Ministry of Finance. Today, the place and role of Customs administration in society is widely diverse, from collecting revenues to providing support to the international trade. Macedonian Customs as a modern service plays an important role in the security system of its country. It is a constituent part of the system for detection and prevention
of illegal trade and unfair competition, impediment of trade in prohibited goods and financing terrorism, safeguarding the environment and cultural heritage. With changes of the Law of Criminal Procedure in the Republic of Macedonia in 2004, the Customs administration has been given new jurisdictions in the fight with customs crime and the crime complemented to it.
The indicators on the security role of the MCA are divided in to two main groups:
I. Indicators on the crime detection.
II. Indicators on the implementation of risk management approach:
The indicators on the crime detection of the MCA are related to the number of the submitted felony charges, the number of the submitted misdemeanor charges and the number of the submitted charges per employee (fig.1).
The indicator on the felony charges (fig.1) shows the continuous efforts of the MCA to fight crime and protect its population. The largest number of submitted felony charges was recorded in 2014-119, that is an increase of 17% compared to 2010. In 2015 the number of submitted felony charges was 110.
Analyzing the indicator on the misdemeanor charges (fig.1) indicates that 2012 has seen a sharp decline of 37% of the misdemeanor charges, related to 2010. The same year the financial implications of misdemeanors are the largest and are estimated to amount to 646 million denars (fig.2). In 2015 there was a sharp increase of 75% of the misdemeanor charges, related to 2012. In these period the participation of the customs offences in total infringements ranges from 84% in 2015 to 91% in 2012 (fig. 3), showing that customs offences are still dominant in total infringements. Further analyze of the customs offences shows that most of them are result of presenting lower value in the customs declarations (fig. 4). These relations showing that customs offences count almost 85-90 percent of the total infringements and that more than 90 percent of customs offences are related to presenting lower value in the customs declarations forced MCA to develop stronger customs control system on customs value. In this respect, the MCA has created a national data base on Customs value and adopted regulations referring customs value.
Figure 1. Indicators on the crime detection of the MCA Source: MCA, own calculations The indicator on the submitted charges per ployees in 2012 as result of the lower number of employee (fig.1) shows the workload of the em- the of the misdemeanor charges, and an increase ployees on crime detection. This indicator shows of the workload in 2015 for 71% compared to that there was a decline of the workload of the em- 2012.
Figure 2. The structure of the misdemeanor charges of the MCA - 2012-2015
Source: MCA, own calculations
Figure 3. Financial implications of the commited customs infrigements - 2012-2015 (in million)
Source: MCA, own calculations
Figure 4. Results of the documentary customs control (the structure of the customs offences)
Source: MCA, own calculations
The indicators on implementation of the RM in the MCA are related to the distribution of the customs declarations by channels (selective control on the customs declarations), number of processed declarations and the time of the processed declarations. In this paper, we analyze only the indicator related to the distribution of the customs declarations by channels (fig.5) as the most significant for the security roll of the MCA.
The Macedonian Customs administration operates four clearance channels (red / yellow / blue /green channel) and approximately 40 per cent of the total imports and 40 per cent of total exports are
selected for the green channel, and only 17 per cent of the total imports and 10 per cent of the total exports are selected for the red channel for the period of2010-2015. This indicates efficiency and productivity in customs practices and leads to gain of time and resources for export and import entities. Fig. 5 shows that Customs Administration of the Republic ofMacedonia applies risk management approach and has improved the system for selective controls by reduced percentage of physical and documentary customs controls from 30% physical control in 2014 to 10% in 2015, and from 35% documentary control in 2014 to 18% in 2015.
Figure 7: Indicator on selective control on customs declarations in MCA Source: MCA, own calculations Customs Administrations that adopted risk in every day work can designate they're capabil-management approach and the application of risk- ity to the high-risk operations while increasing the based selectivity (red/yellow/blue/green channel) efficiency of the clearance procedures for low-risk
consignments. As a result of the application of risk-based selectivity in every day work MCA can determine shipments in which further inspection in the form of physical and documentary inspection of the consignment is necessary by analyzing trading countries, customs value, customs tariff etc. in order to fulfill its obligation in terms of security and safety.
Conclusion
Analysis of the security roll of the Macedonian customs throws up some key conclusions:
First, Macedonian Customs as a modern service plays an important role in the security system of its country. It is a constituent part of the system for detection and prevention of illegal trade and unfair competition, impediment of trade in prohibited goods and financing terrorism, safeguarding the environment and cultural heritage.
Second, the analyzed indicators on the security roll of the MCA have presented the current situation on the measures combating customs crime,
and implementation on the customs risk management approach.
Third, analyzing indicators on the detection on the crime stressed out that customs offences count almost 85-90 percent of the total infringements and that more than 90 percent of customs offences are related to presenting lower value in the customs declarations. It can be noted that MCA has strong commitment regarding its role in prevention and detection of crime and protection of its citizens, but still needs to develop more efficient control methods regarding customs value declarations.
Fourth, Customs Administration of the Republic of Macedonia applies customs risk management approach (as shown by the indicator on selective control on customs declarations in MCA) while conducting customs operations. But still Macedonian customs face challenge to balance border security threats and trade facilitation. Customs and other border security and management agencies should work along together in fulfillment of its security roll.
References:
1. MCA: Reports on the Activities of the Customs Administration of the Republic of Macedonia - 20102015, Macedonian Customs Administration, Skopje.
2. MCA: Guidelines on selective controls of customs operations, Macedonian Customs Administration, Skopje, - 2015.
3. European Commission (EC): European working program, - 2005.
4. European Commission (EC): Authorised Economic Operators Guidelines [pdf]. DG Taxation and Customs Union, - 2007. Retrieved from URL: http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/resources/docu-ments/customs/policy_issues/customs_security/aeo_guidelines_en.pdf.
