2023-06-22 04:05:38
A customs officer directs the driver of a truck into the concrete hangar housing the new customs scanner, on February 04, 2022 in the port of Le Havre, in order to check the contents of his vehicle. The driver is then asked to leave the place so as not to be exposed to radiation. The scanner, mobile on rails, passes around the semi-trailer to create a detailed image of its contents, image immediately sent to the computers of the control post in the adjacent building. OLIVIER LABAN-MATTEI / MYOP / OLIVIER LABAN-MATTEI / MYOP FOR THE WORLD
Like the senators, the deputies unanimously adopted on Wednesday June 21 at first reading a government project to reform the powers and means of customs, made essential by a warning shot from the Constitutional Council.
A decision of « Sages » last September 22 had dealt a blow to the power to inspect customs officers, considering that the article governing it was too laconic and contrary to the Constitution. The Constitutional Council had left until September 1, 2023 to find a more solid formulation. The government bill must now be the subject of an agreement between deputies and senators, with a view to final adoption around July 5.
“I am very happy to see that the national representation was able to come together in the service of those who get up every morning to protect the French, to protect the borders”, welcomed the Minister of Public Accounts Gabriel Attal. Among the opposition, left-wing groups abstained, deploring that more staff were not planned. The Republican (LR) deputies voted for the text, welcoming the measures giving “more agility” at customs. The National Rally (RN) also voted for, while criticizing a “Judicialization of customs action”.
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The text enshrines the full right to search goods and people in the border zone, and in the “customs area” (an area of 40 kilometers inside the territory). Customs officers will retain the same powers in ports, airports and stations with international services, and in “surroundings of these places”.
Elsewhere, the search will have to be “motivated”. Customs must first inform the public prosecutor, who may oppose it, or have “plausible reasons” to suspect an offense or « tentative » of offence.
Links between customs officers and border police
The text also provides for the creation of a “operational reserve”a body made up of retired customs officers and volunteers intended to support customs officers, but which worries the left, which sees in it an excuse not to increase the number of staff.
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It also extends the powers of customs officers in the use of surveillance images and sounds picked up by microphones, as well as in the use of data generated by automatic license plate readers, despite the reluctance of opposition on potential privacy breaches.
The bill toughens the penalties for tobacco trafficking: it increases the prison sentence from one to three years and creates a ban on the territory of up to ten years for any foreigner committing this offence. Always against tobacco trafficking, but also to monitor the “irregular crossing” at the borders, the government foresees the possibility of using drones.
More broadly, the text strengthens the link between customs officers and border police forces, the left accusing the government of wanting to create a hybrid body « douaniers – PAF »intended to fight against migration, and going beyond the traditional missions of controlling customs goods.
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