The Snat is considering a bill from Bercy dedicated to customs

The Senate will examine from Wednesday a bill aimed at securing the search capabilities of customs officers, recently censored by the Constitutional Council, increasing their means of action and increasing the penalties for tobacco trafficking.

This bill, first submitted to senators before the National Assembly, is the first dedicated to customs since 1965.

In a decision handed down on September 22, the Constitutional Council declared article 60 of the customs code to be unconstitutional, which provides that with a view to investigating fraud, its agents may inspect goods, means of transport and people.

The Elders considered that the article did not specify sufficiently the framework applicable to the conduct of these operations. They gave the government until September 1, 2023 to propose a new wording for this article.

In the draft law, the right of inspection of goods and persons will depend on the geographical location of its exercise. It will remain full and complete in the border zone and in the geographical area of ​​the customs radius (40 km inside the territory beyond the border strip) as well as in ports, airports, international railway and road stations.

Outside this radius, he must be justified in order to be legally secure after prior information (and no authorization) from the public prosecutor or with plausible reasons to suspect a customs offence.

The article specifies the right of persons: the visit may consist of patting down or searching their clothes and luggage, but excludes a body search except during a customs detention.

The text also plans to better regulate the most intrusive investigation techniques (sound or image capture) and to modernize customs powers to take into account new digital realities.

It proposes a three-year experiment extending the retention of data from automated license plate readers (LAPI) – four months maximum – to improve the fight against go-fast in particular.

Provision is also made for the authorization of the temporary withholding of sums of cash within the territory in the event of indications relating to criminal activity.

Finally, the text increases the penalties against people involved in tobacco trafficking, whose seizures reached record highs last year.

The penalty for manufacturing, fraudulent possession with a view to sale, sale outside the monopoly, fraudulent introduction or importation of manufactured tobacco is increased to three years compared to one year today (ten years compared to five in the case of an organized gang).

In committee, the senators did not modify the text in depth, adopting amendments to specify or clarify certain measures.

The article aimed at preventing offenses committed via the Internet has nevertheless been rewritten on the initiative of rapporteur Albric de Montgolfier (LR) in order to make it legally secure.

source site-96