Page 28 - Hafen Hamburg Magazin

■ PORT OF TASTE
CUSTOMS STAFF CONDUCT RANDOM CONTAINER CHECKS
28 | Port of Hamburg Magazine | June 2020
lifestyle produce chart is alcohol tax. However, to- bacco is less relevant for the Hamburg Customs Of- fice, because the manufacturers have to purchase their tax strips from the centralized federal office in Bunde, located in Eastern Westphalia, with the tax becoming due there.
“In most cases everything runs according to the book. We take in the bulk from legal activities,” states Nina Jensen. However, there is an excise tax discrepancy with coffee between the quantity of green coffee and the excise tax volume for roasted coffee. However, Customs are not authorised to in- spect. With tobacco it used to be similar, but in the meantime, excise tax is now payable on the raw ma- terial. “This makes monitoring imports easier,” ex- plains Jürgen Schmiedeke, head of the inspection department at Main Hamburg Customs Office.
SMUGGLED GOODS TOO
“We are responsible for goods that are smuggled in or out past Customs. These are, above all, drugs but also alcohol and cigarettes,” adds Schmiedeke. When the special rules on shipments, especially proper ac- companying documentation, are not adhered to, my team comes into action. When we discover illegal goods during our patrols through the port, we confis- cate them, maybe arresting individuals, and hand the case over to our Customs investigation branch. They can then investigate to uncover those behind it and their structures,” he explains. Many inspections are carried out on a risk-oriented basis, since it is abso- lutely impossible to run your eyes over every one of the nine million containers arriving annually in the Port of Hamburg.
However, not only the port is a hotspot for smugglers. The need for inspections has increased for ‘hub- ble-bubble’ water-pipe tobacco. “Just like cigarettes and alcohol, it belongs to the excisable products and may only be sold in certain quantities,” states Schmiedeke. For example, last summer Hamburg Customs inspected 80 sheesha bars. This resulted in the confiscation of 700 kilos of water-pipe tobacco. These days, illegal lifestyle produce comes from the eastern Hamburg hinterland. Recently Customs of- ficers in Lübeck-Travemünde seized almost 1.2 mil- lion cigarettes from a large truck loaded with lumber. When sold on, the loss of tax revenue would have been to the order of 200,000 euros.
DESTROY OR AUCTION?
After completing investigations, confiscated cigarettes and tobacco are burned. Depending on how the courts decide, alcoholic beverages may be placed in a Cus- toms auction. In advance of this, Customs laboratories check whether the illegal goods are even fit for human consumption and will not be damaging to health.
GERMAN CUSTOMS MUSEUM
In 1834, most German states joined the German Cus- toms Union. This simplified trade, but called even more smugglers into action. For a time, ‘Jin Ling’ cig- arettes from China popped up quite often. These days, even reputable brands are being counter-fitted. This is not so obvious and not so easily discovered. Gripping stories and more on the topic of ‘Customs’ are told in the permanent German Customs Museum exhibition in Speicherstadt. You will find more infor- mation under www.museum.zoll.de .■
© Zoll Hamburg