The Anguilla Customs Department has made a passionate appeal to all operators of vessels entering or leaving the island’s ports, and importers, to voluntarily comply with the legal arrival and clearance procedures and the declaration of imported items. If not, they will be dealt with under the full extent of the law.
Comptroller of Customs, Mr. Travis Carty, speaking about declarations and valuations, stated in his department’s appeal: “What we need is more voluntary compliance with paying Customs Duty by those persons, in the community, who posture themselves as just and upright citizens. Having no duties [to collect] would make our lives at the Anguilla Customs Department much easier as our only focus would be on efficiency. But until that is the law, we have to ensure that all importers and persons paying duties and taxes pay their fair share on a level playing field, thus adhering to the rule of law.”
Mr. Carty, who quoted several sections of the Customs Act, continued: “Some persons and companies use sophisticated schemes, such as organising offshore companies and parties to purchase items and have them re-invoiced before they are shipped to Anguilla. Persons coming into Anguilla from St. Martin/St. Maarten somehow always forget or misplaced their invoices/receipts and cannot remember what they paid for their items.
“I am calling on your good sense of Anguillian national pride and patriotism, either by birth or residence. During these difficult times you must come to the aid of Anguilla. Every dollar not collected is a dollar that has to be borrowed and our children and their children are the ones who have to pay back those funds. I commend those importers and other persons who are paying their duties and taxes that are needed to run the country.
“The additional duties are needed to improve the services in Anguilla. The majority of us do not have many options. Our children have to go to the public schools here in Anguilla. We therefore need to ensure that we give the Government every opportunity to provide these services. When they [the Government] fail, we fail and our children fail.”
Mr. Carty added: “While the Customs Officers are executing their duties at the different ports and sections, I am calling for your cooperation to ensure that we protect our society and collect the Government’s much-needed revenue. When the Officers select your entry for scrutiny, flag your shipment for further examination, or examine your luggage to verify your declaration, they are insulted and abused. Let me be clear. If you feel the need to insult or abuse anyone, call me because it is under my instructions that the Officers are working.
“To those of you, who do not wish to voluntarily comply, the Anguilla Customs Department will have no choice but to enforce compliance and you will be dealt with under the full extent of the law.”
Mr. Carty quoted sections 19 and 37 of the Customs Act R.S.A. c169 for easy reference:
• Section 19: Procedure on Arrival of Vessel
19 (1): Subject to this section and save as the Comptroller may otherwise permit –
(a) The master of any vessel arriving in the territorial sea of Anguilla from a place outside of Anguilla shall cause that vessel to proceed directly to a customs port; and
(b) No person importing or concerned in importing any goods into Anguilla in any vessel shall bring those goods into Anguilla at any place other than a port; and any master or other person who contravenes or fails to comply with this subsection is guilty of an offence and is liable to a fine of $10,000 or 3 times the value of the goods, whichever is greater, and any goods imported in contravention of this subsection shall be liable to forfeiture.
• Section 37 – Clearance
37 (1) Save as the Comptroller may otherwise permit –
(a) The master of any vessel intending to depart from any customs port or any other place in Anguilla to a destination outside Anguilla; and
(b) The commander of any aircraft intending to depart from any airport or any other place in Anguilla to a destination outside Anguilla, shall obtain clearance from Customs in the prescribed form and manner or as the Comptroller otherwise directs.
The Comptroller of Customs ended his department’s statement by advising that “all vessels including fishing vessels, pleasure craft, cargo vessels, commercial vessels and ferries are asked to be guided by the provisions of sections 19 and 37 as outlined above.”
The Customs Department is the Anguilla Government’s largest revenue earner. In 2017 it paid in some 76 million EC dollars to the Treasury Department, six million more than the estimated figure.
