Customs and Excise Department (Hong Kong)

History

Hong Kong Customs, originally known as the Preventive Service, was founded in 1909. Initially it was responsible to collect the newly imposed duties on liquor. As commodities became subject to duties, the scope of the Preventive Service broadened to include tobacco and hydrocarbon oil, as well as duties related to the government opium monopoly. During times of war, the service prevented the export of precious metals and other commodities to the enemies of the United Kingdom and its allies. In 1963, with the passage of the Preventive Service Ordinance, the service gained the legal status to make regulations on its discipline, functions, powers and terms of service. In 1977, it was renamed the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Service. On 1 August 1982, The Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department became independent from the Trade and Industry Department.

The C&ED is an active member of the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). It exchanges intelligence and works closely with overseas Customs administrations and law enforcement agencies.

With a view to tackling cybercrime, Hong Kong Customs established the Computer Forensic Laboratory, the Computer Analysis & Response Team, and the Anti-Internet Piracy Investigation Team in 2000. These specialized establishments prominently enhanced Customs' enforcement capability and the credibility of digital evidence presented to the courts. The Customs Computer Forensic Laboratory offers professional assistance in collecting, preserving, analyzing, and presenting digital evidence to law court in customs related cases. The digital forensic analysts from the laboratory are qualified to testify as expert witnesses in court of law. The forensic laboratory has been awarded ISO 9001 on quality management and ISO 27001 (BS 7799) on information security since 2006. The Hong Kong Customs Computer Forensic Laboratory is the first government unit of HKSAR (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region) to implement ISO 27001. In 2013, an Electronic Crime Investigation Centre was set up within the department.

Departmental structure

The department is headed by the Commissioner of Customs and Excise. As at 1 April 2004, the department has an establishment of 4,931 posts, of which nine are directorate officers, 3,804 are members of the Customs and Excise Service, 504 are Trade Controls Officers and 614 are staff of the General and Common Grades.

There are five branches:

The Administration and Excise Branch

This is responsible for matters relating to dutiable commodities under the purview of the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, the international customs liaison and co-operation and the overall staff management and general administration of the Customs and Excise Service, including staff training, planning and provision of resources and department al facilities; and the housekeeping of the Office of Dutiable Commodities Administration, the Customs Liaison Bureau, the Office of Management Services, the Office of Service Administration and the Office of Training and Development.

The Boundary and Ports Branch

This is responsible for matters relating to import and export controls under the purview of the Security Bureau and the housekeeping of the Airport Command, Control Points Command and the Ports and Maritime Command.

The Intelligence and Investigation Branch

This branch is responsible for matters relating to recreational drugs and anti-smuggling activities under the schedule of the Security Bureau and issues relating to intellectual property under the purview of the Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau; formulation of policies and strategies regarding the application of intelligence and risk management in customs operations and the housekeeping of the Customs Drug Investigation Bureau, the Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau, the Intelligence Bureau, the Revenue and General Investigation Bureau, the money service operator licensing system and the Syndicate Crimes Investigation Bureau.

The Trade Controls Branch

This branch is responsible for trade controls matters under the schedule of the Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau and consumer protection matters under the schedule of the Economic Development and Labour Bureau, and comprises the Textiles Tactical Investigation Bureau, the Trade Inspection and Verification Bureau, the Trade Investigation Bureau, the General Investigation and Systems Bureau and the Consumer Protection and Prosecution Bureau.

The Civil Secretariat

This is responsible for all matters concerning departmental administration, financial management, information technology development and internal audit. The branch comprises the Office of Departmental Administration, the Office of Financial Administration, the Office of Information Technology, the Internal Audit Division and the Information Unit.

Protection of revenue

There is no tariff on goods entering Hong Kong, but excise duties are charged on four groups of commodities. These commodities are hydrocarbon oil, liquor, methyl alcohol and tobacco. These duties make no differentiation between imported commodities, or commodities manufactured locally for domestic consumption.

In 2003, the C&ED collected $6,484 million excise duty. Under the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance, the C&ED controls breweries, distilleries, tobacco factories, oil installations, ship and aircraft duty-free stores, and industrial and commercial establishments dealing with dutiable commodities; and supervises licensed, general bonded and public bonded warehouses.

Licences are issued to those who import, export, manufacture or store dutiable commodities. The C&ED also assesses the First Registration Tax of vehicles under the Motor Vehicle (First Registration Tax) Ordinance. The Anti-illicit Cigarette Investigation Division is specially tasked to detect syndicated smuggling, distribution and peddling of dutiable cigarettes. The Diesel Oil Enforcement Division focuses its efforts on detecting the smuggling and misuse of illicit fuels.

Prevention and detection of smuggling

The C&ED prevents and detects smuggling activities under the Import and Export Ordinance and enforces the licensing controls on prohibited articles by inspecting cargoes imported and exported by air, sea and land; processing passengers and their baggage at entry /exit points; and searching aircraft, vessels and vehicles entering and leaving Hong Kong. The Joint Police/Customs Anti-Smuggling Task Force is dedicated to combating smuggling activities by sea. The Control Points Investigation Division is tasked to strengthen the intelligence collection capability at the land boundary and suppress the cross-boundary smuggling activities.

Airport

The Hong Kong International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world with a daily arrival of about 257 scheduled flights, bringing into Hong Kong a daily average of 25,989 passengers and 2,838 tonnes of imported cargoes. In 2003, the throughput of air passengers was 19 million whereas the throughput of air cargoes was about 2.64 million tonnes.

Harbour

Hong Kong is one of the busiest container ports in the world. It handled 20.4 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) in 2003. Of these, 12.1 million TEUs were handled at the Kwai Chung Container Terminal. In 2003, 70,910 ocean-going ships and 365,190 coastal vessels entered and left Hong Kong.

Ships and vessels are subject to customs check. Cargoes are either examined on board sea freighters or after off-loading.

In 2003, a total of 8.6 million passengers arrived in Hong Kong from the Mainland and Macau by sea and by helicopters. They were processed at the China Ferry Terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui and the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal in Central. In addition, a daily average of 49 helicopter flights between Hong Kong and Macau are operated at the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal. Four Customs launches conduct maritime patrol in the territorial waters round the clock whereas four high-speed pursuit crafts and two shallow water patrol launches are employed to carry out interception at sea.

Land boundary

On average, 156,339 passengers arrive from the Mainland by land daily and they are processed at Man Kam To, Sha Tau Kok, Lok Ma Chau and Lo Wu control points. Additionally, 2,991 passengers enter Hong Kong by through-trains and are processed at Hung Hom Railway Station. Goods imported by road are checked at Man Kam To, Sha Tau Kok and Lok Ma Chau. In 2003, over 20 million tonnes of cargoes were imported through the land boundary control points.

Border control points

Anti-drug operations

The C&ED and the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) are responsible for anti-drug law enforcement. Seizures of illicit drugs in 2003 included 52.87 kilograms of heroin, 562.15 kilograms of herbal cannabis, 24.46 kilograms of cannabis resin, 8.33 kilograms of cocaine, 41.1 kilograms and 1,272 tablets of methylamphetamine, 35.56 kilograms and 141,038 tablets of ecstasy-type tablets (MDMA, etc.), 51.3 kilograms and 238 tablets of ketamine, and substantial quantities of various narcotics, analgesics and tranquillisers.

A total of 8,652 persons were arrested for drug offences of whom 2,827 were arrested for major offences such as drug trafficking and manufacturing, and the remaining 5,825 were arrested for minor offences such as possession of illicit drugs.

Apart from intercepting smuggling of drugs at entry/exit control points, the department launches proactive investigations and surveillance operations on syndicated drug trafficking activities throughout Hong Kong. The department also flexibly deploys drug detector dogs and introduces advanced technologies, such as Mobile X-ray Vehicle Scanning Systems and Vehicle X-ray Inspection Systems, to assist anti-drug work.

In addition, the department closely monitors the trend of illicit drug use, in particular the growing popularity of psychotropic substances among the young and cross boundary drug crimes. The C&ED also investigates laundering of drug proceeds and initiates applications for freezing and confiscating assets derived from drug trafficking. Suspected drug-related assets worth $1.18 million were frozen, awaiting confiscation proceedings.

The department enforces a licensing system to control the import, export and dealing of 25 specific precursor chemicals which can be used for the manufacture of dangerous drugs. It exchanges intelligence and co-operates closely with the HKPF and various drug enforcement agencies on the Mainland and overseas in the fight against drug traffickers both locally and at international level.

Trade controls and consumer protection

The C&ED safeguards the certification and licensing systems which are of vital importance to Hong Kong's trading integrity. The department deters and investigates offences of origin fraud, circumvention of textiles licensing and quota control. It also investigates offences of import and export of strateg commodities and other prohibited articles not under and in accordance with a licence.

The department carries out cargo examination at control points, factory inspections, factory audit checks and consignment checks. It is also the department's enforcement strategy to administer a monetary reward scheme to encourage the supply of information on textile origin fraud.

The department is a member of the Hong Kong Compliance Office set up to assist the Central People's Government in implementing the Chemical Weapons Convention in Hong Kong. The department enforces licensing control on rice and consumer protection legislation relating to weights and measures, markings on fineness of precious metals, and safety of toys, children's products and consumer goods. The department also verifies import and export declarations to ensure accurate trade statistics and assesses and collects declaration charges and the clothing industry training levy.

In 2002/03, the department collected $848 million in declaration charges and $19.9 million in clothing industry training levies.

Intellectual property rights protection

The C&ED has the mission to defend the interests of intellectual property rights owners and legitimate traders through staunch enforcement of the Copyright Ordinance, the Trade Descriptions Ordinance and the Prevention of Copyright Piracy Ordinance.

The department investigates and prosecutes copyright offences relating to literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, sound recordings, cinematographic films, broadcasts and other published works under the Copyright Ordinance. It also takes enforcement action against commercial goods with forged trademark or false label under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance.

At the manufacture level, the Prevention of Copyright Piracy Ordinance requires local optical disc and stamper manufacturers to obtain licences from the department and mark on all their products specific identification codes. The Import and Export Ordinance imposes licensing controls on the import and export of optical disc mastering and replication equipment. A 147-strong Special Task Force has also been playing an important role in combating copyright piracy, and serves as a mobile brigade to reinforce the suppression of other customs-related crimes.

Customs co-operation

The C&ED is an active member of the World Customs Organization (WCO) and Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). It exchanges intelligence and works closely with overseas customs administrations and law enforcement agencies. The department has also entered bilateral Cooperative Arrangements with other customs authorities on administrative assistance. At the working level, the department and the Mainland customs have each established designated liaison officers to facilitate the exchange of intelligence through direct telephone hotlines.

Seizures and prosecutions

In 2003, the C&ED seized a total of $1,244 million worth of goods. They included illicit drugs valued at $45 million; infringing goods worth $229 million; counterfeit goods worth $120 million; smuggled merchandises worth $541 million; dutiable commodities worth $284 million.

During the year, the C&ED prosecuted 7,184 persons and firms under various laws enforced by the department.

Fines amounted to $31.83 million and 4,351 custodial sentences, aggregated to 1,671 years and 11 months, were imposed on convicted persons. Among the prosecutions, 803 were cases relating to unlawful commercial malpractices such as violation of licensing controls of strategic commodities, supplying false information in applications for certificate of origin, textile licensing frauds and contravention of consumer protection legislation.

Ranks

As with all of the HK Disciplined Services, British-pattern ranks and insignia continue to be utilised, the only change being the exchange of the St. Edward's Crown for the Bauhinia flower crest post-1997.

Crest

The current crest of the force was adopted in 1997 to replace most of the colonial symbols:

Source: Customs and Excise Department [Hong Kong]

Weapons

The C&E officers are trained in the use of, and issued when required, revolvers as sidearms for lethal protection and an ASP expendable baton and Sabre Red pepper spray for less-than-lethal options on the field as same as the other disciplinary force members. Semi-automatic pistols are issued to the section tasked with providing witness protection. Members are also trained in the use of shotguns and sub-machine guns, however such long arms are rarely used.

Officers are required to go to the range at least twice a year after their graduation. While most members of the HK CED are not routinely armed, the personnel that do routinely carry sidearms are those staff responsible for dealing with serious crimes, anti-narcotics and armed escort stationed at the various ports, along with the members of the Special Task Force.