Risk & Compliance

Customs Compliance Section 

The role of the section is to ensure that importers/exporters/businesses/ agents and individuals comply with the legislation and follow regulated procedures set by FRCA, mainly through external auditing of business processes.

Compliance is a very important area in risk & compliance with the introduction of automated assessment processes from a customs transactional checking based process to a client self-assessment process operating on modern risk management principles.

The objective of the section is to conduct System Based Audits (SBA's) or alternatively do transactional audit as appropriate.

Customs Compliance can be said to be at the forefront of a broad spectrum of customs enforcement with investigation & prosecution on the other hand.

 

Customs Investigation Branch (CIB)

The Customs Investigation Branch deals with all cases that relate to any breach of Customs and Excise Legislation.

Information is received from internal and external sources and is categorised as follows:

Valuation – any breach that relate to commercial fraud, which result in short payment of duty. These offences include undervaluation of goods and double invoicing.

Narcotics – cases that involve the movement of drugs. This relates to the importation or export of drugs, chemicals and equipment used in the production of drugs.

General – offences that fall in neither categories above. These offences include smuggling, undeclared and surplus goods, money laundering, abuse of concession, false declaration or incorrect description and incorrect tariff classification .

 

Types of Offences

Under valuation involves cases where the value of the goods imported is undervalued so as to evade duty.

•  Abuse of Concession – this type of offence involves concession approval given to goods that should have had normal duty paid at time of importation.

•  False declaration/incorrect description – this involves declaration of incorrect description of goods. Usually the description of the item declared would attract less duty rate than the actual good that is being imported

•  Incorrect tariff classification – this offence involves the use of an incorrect tariff to calculate duty for goods being imported. Usually, the tariff used attracts a lower rate of duty, and these are usually found in importations where goods with similar descriptions have vast differences in the rates of duty.

•  Money laundering – is the practice of engaging in specific financial transaction in order to conceal the identity, source, and/or destination of money and is a main operation of underground economy. It encompasses any financial transaction, which generates an asset or a value as the result of an illegal act, which may involve actions such as tax evasion or false accounting.

•  Smuggling – this involves the unauthorized moving of undeclared Custom controlled goods across the border, whether it be importing or exporting.

•  Narcotics – This involves the import or export of prohibited drugs listed in the Illicit Drugs Control Act 2004.

There are two options available for settlements:

  • Final settlement under Section 155 of the Customs Act, 1986 with Comptroller where the importer has to admit the offence & writes to the Comptroller of Customs that he wants the case to be settled.
  • Court. Normal legal proceeding procedures will take place in open court.

Customs Intelligence Unit (CIU)  

The purpose of CIU is to provide FRCA with capability to focus on areas of risk through effective planning and analysis of tactical, operational and strategy trends and patterns. It enables the organisation decisions to be made and resources deployed on the basis of need and in a way consistent with government expectation.

The scope of CIU is to support FRCA business areas through the following:

  • Information collection, processing, management and dissemination.
  • Promoting intelligence gathering and networking with sources of information both locally and externally.
  • Tactical and operational support through highlighting of transactions/events of interest.
  • Case analysis of trends and patterns and profile development.

Border Control Division

Our Border Control Division performs the following core functions of the Authority:

  • Cargo Container Examination
    • Physical inspection of goods against Customs entries, documents and detect any fraudulent consignment / shipment.
    • Accounts for any discrepancies and appraisal of goods.
  • Air Freight Operations
    • Ensures that all goods imported/exported through airfreight are properly accounted for and is in compliance with Customs Act and Regulations.
  • Parcel Post Operations
    • Vet and check all foreign parcels coming through the post office for compliance according to Customs Act and regulations.
  • Passenger Processing
    • Conduct clearance of international passengers, crafts, and crew arriving in and departing from Fiji.
    • Profiling of potential risks, applying any alert instructions that might exist in respect of passengers and crew.
  • Customs Marine Unit
    • Strengthening Fiji 's border management and community protection through surveillance and patrolling our maritime borders.
    • Intercepting and interrogating suspected ships.
    • Conduct rummages/searches on suspected ships.
    • Educating and creating awareness to stakeholders on border issues.
  • Transnational Crime Unit
    • Oversee transnational organized crime, illicit drugs, objectionable material, intellectual property fraud, identity fraud, wildlife smuggling and illegal immigration.
    • Investigate cases of cigarette, liquor, drugs, foreign currency and fake travel.
    • Documents smuggling, pedophile and money laundering.

 

 

Back