“A day eagerly awaited by all customs officers, who are worried [de] evolution of their missions, who want clarifications”, assured Bruno Le Maire. On Monday, April 3, the government presented its bill to bring customs’ right of access into compliance, aimed at securing the search capabilities of its agents, recently censored by the Constitutional Council, and increasing their means of investigation. ‘stock.
“We want an effective, clear, operational right of access for customs officers”, mentioned the Minister of the Economy at the outset, during a webinar open to all customs officers. In a decision rendered on September 22, 2022, the Constitutional Council declared unconstitutional thearticle 60 of the customs codea text of barely two lines, promulgated by a decree of the Queuille I government, on December 8, 1948, and which has since governed the searches of vehicles and people. “For the application of the provisions of this code and with a view to the search for fraud, customs officers may proceed to the inspection of goods and means of transport and that of persons”he said, in full.
The members of the Constitutional Council considered that the article did not specify “not sufficiently the framework applicable to the conduct of these operations, taking into account, for example, the places where they are carried out or the existence of plausible reasons to suspect the commission of an offence”. They gave the government until 1is September 2023 to propose a new version of this article of the code.
In recent weeks, the reference to this brief article has been invited, as if by breaking and entering, in the pleadings of “narcotics” files linked to customs seizures. Since this text, considered the cornerstone of the action of customs officers, was declared unconstitutional, it has plunged the procedures into unprecedented legal vagueness. By betting on the obsolescence of the legal framework for excavations, the defenders of the alleged traffickers have obtained several releases, even outright cancellations of seizures.
“Modernizing customs powers”
In the draft law, the right of inspection of goods and persons will therefore depend on the geographical location of its exercise. It will remain full and whole in the border area and in the geographical area of the “customs area” (40 kilometers inside the territory beyond the border strip) as well as in ports, airports and international train and bus stations. Outside this radius, the right of visit must be “motivated 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.
In addition, 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 provides “better supervise the most intrusive investigation techniques (sound system or image capture) and [de] modernize customs powers », underlined the Minister of Public Accounts Gabriel Attal. It proposes a three-year experiment extending the retention of data from automated license plate readers – 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.
The customs bill, the first since 1965, will be presented to the Council of Ministers on Tuesday.