2. Customs tariffs and duties

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, transports, 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.^[1] The customs authority 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. In most countries customs are attained through government agreements and international laws.

A customs duty is a tariff or tax on the importation (usually) or exportation (unusually) of goods. In the Kingdom of England, customs duties were typically part of the customary revenue of the king, and therefore did not need parliamentary consent to be levied, unlike excise duty, land tax, or other forms of taxes.

Commercial goods not yet cleared through customs are held in a customs area, often called a bonded store, until processed. All authorised ports are recognised customs area.

A tariff is either (1) a tax imposed on imports or exports (trade tariff) in and out of a country, or (2) a list or schedule of prices for such things as railservice, bus routes, and electrical usage (electrical tariff, etc.).

In economics, a duty is a kind of tax, often associated with customs, a payment due to the revenue of a state, levied by force of law. The term is often used to describe a tax on certain items purchased abroad. Properly, a duty differs from a tax in being levied on specific commodities, financial transactions, estates, etc., and not on individuals; thus it is right to talk of import duties, excise duties, death or succession duties, etc., but income tax levied on a person is not considered a duty.

Calculation of Customs duty depends on the determination of what is called assessable value in case of items for which the duty is levied ad valorem. This is often the transaction value unless the Customs officers determines assessable value in accordance with Brussels definition.

However, for certain items like petroleum and alcohol, Customs duty is realized at a specific rate applied to the volume of the import or export consignments.

Duty-free is the term that is often used to describe goods bought at ports and airports that do not attract the usual government taxes and customs duties. Some countries impose allowances in order to restrict the number of Duty-free items that one person can import into the country. These restrictions often apply to tobacco, wine, spirits, eau de toilette, gifts and souvenirs. Often foreigndiplomats and UN officials are entitled to Duty-free goods. Duty-free goods are imported and stocked in what is called Bonded warehouse.