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Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country. Depending on local legislation and regulations, the import or export of some goods may be restricted or forbidden, and the customs agency enforces these rules. The customs LEBA may be different from the immigration authority, which monitors persons who leave or enter the country, checking for appropriate documentation, apprehending people wanted by international arrest warrants, and impeding the entry of others deemed dangerous to the country.
A customs duty is a tariff or tax on the export of goods. Commercial goods not yet cleared through customs are held in a customs area, often called a bonded store, until processed. All authorized ports are recognized customs area.
1.3. Write down different types of questions to the text helping its better understanding.
World Customs Organization
Customs officers are responsible for ensuring that imported and exported goods are properly identified, and seized if stolen or smuggled. The functions and legal powers of customs agencies vary from country to country. In 1950 the Customs Cooperation Council (now the World Customs Organization, or WCO) was established to secure "the highest degree of harmony and uniformity in customs systems."
The functions of the WCO include:
1) proposing practical means of attaining this goal; preparing draft conventions and amendments to conventions and recommending their adoption by interested governments;
2) making recommendations to ensure the uniform interpretation and application of conventions;
3) ensuring the circulation of information regarding customs regulations and procedures;
4) providing information or advice on customs matters to interested governments;
5) cooperating with other intergovernmental organizations as regards matters within its competence.
The illicit traffic in cultural objects was one of the issues addressed by the Nairobi Convention of 1977 on Mutual Administrative Assistance for the Prevention, Investigation, and Repression of Customs Offences. The growth in cases of smuggling, fraud and theft involving works of art and antiquities invited members of the organization "to develop mutual administrative assistance in combating smuggling and other fraud involving works of art and antiquities," and emphasized the importance of "cooperation with the International Criminal Police organization (INTERPOL) and with the other authorities and organizations concerned."
The State Customs Committee of the Russian Federation also welcomed the initiative, and saw it as important for preventing the illegal import and export of cultural objects. The development of international guidelines, which will deal with the protection of cultural heritage of each nation, will improve the quality of cooperation among Customs Administrations in the field of combating illegal cross-border trade with these cultural objects.
8.2.1. Answer the following questions:
1) What are customs officers responsible for?
2) What is the World Customs Organization?
3) When was it founded?
4) What are its main functions?
5) Is the State Customs Committee of the Russian Federation the member of the WCO? If it is so, then prove it by the facts from the text.
6) Why are the illicit traffic of cultural objects are so important for the members of the WCO?
8.2.2. Give English equivalents of the following collocations:
культурное наследие, незаконная торговля, приветствовать инициативу, предотвратить нелегальный ввоз, важность сотрудничества, достижение цели
8.2.3. Match the words and their explanation (one item has been done for you):
| illicit (adj) | a. an act of deceitful behavior for the purpose of gain, which may be punishable by law | |
 heritage (n)
| b. the main points about something which is to be dealt with | |
| draft (n) | c. the act of stealing | |
| guideline (n) | d. something which is passed down over many years within a family or nation | |
| fraud (n) | e. against a law or a rule | |
| theft (n) | f. a rough plan | |
| mutual (adj) | g. equally shared by each one |