Problems And Countermeasures In The Application Of The Discretion In Customs

Customs discretion refers to the right of the Customs to choice reasonably in the realm of the conditions and procedures, of law enforcement behavior, and whether or how to take the action within the boundary limited by relevant laws and regulations. The essence of this power is an option. The major part of choice is the Customs. The range of choice is the permissions of the laws and regulations, and the contents are the conditions and the procedures of administrative acts,, and whether or how to take the action. The standard of choice is "reasonable". As the national immigration authorities, the Customs implements discretion throughout its entire process of administrative activities. The accomplishment of the law enforcement tasks of the Customs such as supervision, taxation, anti-smuggling and statistics will depend on the use of discretion.That is why we call discretion an important part of the Customs administrative powers.Discretion is a double-edged sword. A series of related problems could be triggered inevitably if there is no reasonable regulation and the correct use of discretion. The exercising of Customs discretion is also the most controversial part in the exercise of Customs administrative power, caused the most conflicts, particularly evident in the supervision of the products carried or posted. So-called the supervision of the products carried or posted means to that the Customs supervision of the baggage and personal postal items entry and exit China, including the supervision of baggage entry and exit by land, sea and air ports, postal items, express personal belongings, batch items, diplomatic public and private goods and duty-free goods. The supervision of the products carried or posted directly faces the various types of entry and exit person, and has some characters such as timeliness, summarily, complex policies and difficult to enforcement. It is easy to cause dispute, administrative reconsideration or litigation. In recent years, the improper use of discretion of the supervision on the products carried or posted is a more prominent issue. For example, the seizing of the contraband goods and the taxation of the goods carried by the passengers become special interests of society and difficulties of the Customs enforcement.Take the supervision of the products carried or posted for example, this article adopt the case study method to analyze and research the present situation of the use of discretion in Customs administrative law enforcement.We shall analyze the typical contradictions caused by the abuse of discretion, make recommendations on how to use discretion rationally and supervise it effectively in the theory and practice, to embody fairness and justice in Customs law enforcement, to maintain the balance of the discretion and the legal principles and rules by the greatest extent, and to implement the concept of rule by law.