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Economic Community of West African States
A/P5/5/82 Convention for Mutual Administrative Assistance in Customs Matters
- Published in official journal 4 on 1 June 1982
- Commenced
- [This is the version of this document as it was at 29 May 1982 to 31 May 1982.]
Chapter I
Article 1 – Definitions
For the purposes of the present convention and its application, the term:1."Treaty" means the founding Treaty of the Economic Community of West African States;2."Community" means the Economic Community of West African States3."Council" means the Council of Ministers set up under Article 6 of the Treaty of the Economic Community of West African States;4."Commission" means the Trade, Customs, Immigration, Monetary and Payments Commission set up under Article 9 of the Treaty of the Economic Community of West African States;5."Member States or States" means a Member State or the Member States of the Economic Community of West African States;6."Customs legislation" means the totality of legislative and regulative measures applied by customs administrations as regards the imports, exports or transit of merchandise, currency movement across the borders, including the monitoring of exchange control regulations;7."Customs evasion" means any customs infringement in which a person fraudulently evades, either wholly or in part, the payment of import or export duties and taxes, infringes the prohibition or restrictive measures applied under customs legislation or obtains any benefit whatsoever by the infringement of such legislation;8."Customs infringement" means any violation or attempt to violate customs legislation;9."Commercial evasion" means any infringement by which, outside the provisions mentioned under (g) above, any merchandise is concealed or withheld from the knowledge of the external trade authorities, whether or not subject to import duties and taxes;10."Smuggling" means any customs evasion in which merchandise is moved by any means across a customs post or un-authorised routes;11."Import or export duties and taxes" means customs and any other duties, taxes and royalties or sundry levied on imports or exports, with the exception of royalties and charges where the amount is limited by the approximate cost of the services rendered;12."Entity" means both an individual and a legal entity, unless the context provides otherwise;13."Ratification" means the formal acceptance or application of the present Convention as provided under Article 62 of the Treaty;14."Competent authorities" means any national customs administration or any other national authority designated to assist customs administration.Chapter II
Application of the present convention
Article 2
Article 3
The provisions of the present convention shall also apply to non-recorded traffic in drugs and narcotics.Chapter III
Article 4 – General nature of assistance
Article 5
Article 6
Article 7
The costs arising from provision of experts and witnesses by Member States as well as other costs resulting from the application of the present convention shall be borne by the party making the request. However the content and estimate of such cost shall be mutually agreed upon by the parties concerned prior to the rendering of the said assistance.Chapter IV
Article 8 – Sundry provisions
The Council, Executive Secretariat and Competent authorities responsible for implementation of the convention shall take appropriate measures to ensure that departments responsible for the prevention, detection and punishment of infringements involving customs or trade evasion are in direct and personal contact with each other to facilitate the implementation of the general aims of the present convention.Chapter V
Article 9 – Technical provisions obligatory assistance
Article 10 – Assistance with regard to determination of import or export duties and taxes
Article 11 – Assistance with regard to monitoring
At the request of the competent authorities of a Member Slate, the competent authorities of another Member State shall submit information on the following:Article 12 – Assistance as regards survellance
At the request of the competent authorities of any Member State, the competer authorities of any other Member State shall exercise, to the extent of its competence and powers, special surveilance for a determined period.Article 13 – Enquiries and notifications carried out on behalf of another Member State
Article 14 – Statements by representatives of competent authorities before foreign tribunals
When a simple written statement is not sufficient and the competent authorities of a Member State requests it the competent authorities of the other Member State shall as far as possible, authorise its agents to give evidence before the appropriate tribunal in session on the territory of the Member State requesting information, as witnesses or experts in any matter concerning a customs or trade infringement. The request to appear before the tribunal shall specify the case in question and the capacity in which the agent or official is to give evidence.Article 15 – Presence of representatives of the competent authorities of one Member State on the territory of another Member State
Article 16 – Participation in foreign enquiries
When the two Member States concerned deem it appropriate to do so, representatives of the competent authorities of one of these Member States shall participate at the request of the other, in enquiries carried out on the territory of the latter.Article 17 – Cooperation in the compilation and analysis of customs statistics
Article 18 – Cooperation in the preparation and operation of customs training arrangements
The competent authorities of the Member States shall assist each other in the preparation and operation of customs training arrangements. This provision may apply to:Chapter VI
Centralisation of information
Article 19
The competent authorities of Member States shall cooperate in the establishment and maintenance of a combined index of information on customs frauds involving persons and vehicles; to this end the Executive Secretariat shall be responsible for coordinating and organising the measures necessary to establish and maintain the index.Article 20
I Entities involved in smuggling
Article 21
Information conveyed under the present section is intended to provide the following particulars:Article 22
The principal items of information to be communicated are the following:1. Sex | 5. Hair |
2. Height | 6. Eyes |
3. Weight | 7. Complexion |
4. Build | 8. Distinguishing marks |
Article 23
As a general rule, the Executive Secretariat of the Community shall circulate information concerning individual entities to all Member States.II Individual or legal entities involved in customs evasion other than smuggling
Article 24
Article 25
The principal items of information to be communicated, whenever possible are the following:III Methods used in smuggling and other types of evasion including forgery, falsification or counterfeit
Article 26
Information conveyed under the present section is intended to provide particulars relating to methods used in smuggling and other types of infringement, including the utilisation of methods of concealment, forgery, falsification or counterfeit, in all cases of relevance at international level. Member States shall in each case indicate the method used (whether smuggling or other types of evasion), as well as any new or unusual methods and any potential means of smuggling or committing other types of evasion, such that any trends developing in illicit trade may be detected.Article 27
The principal items of information to be communicated whenever possible, are the followings:IV Ships used for smuggling
Article 28
Information conveyed under the present section is intended to provide particulars relating to ships of all types used in smuggling. In principle, only information relating to matters considered relevant at Inter-State level shall be communicated.Article 29
The principal items of information to be communicated, as far as they are available are as follows:Chapter VII
Article 30 – Functions of the Council of Ministers
Chapter VIII
Final provisions
Article 31
Any dispute that may arise among the Member States regarding the interpretation or application of this Convention shall be amicably settled by direct agreement. In the event of failure to settle such disputes, the matter may be referred to the Council of Ministers.Article 32
History of this document
01 June 1982
29 May 1982 this version
Consolidation