Going through the customs

Customs regulations are on the whole similar in any country of the world and a businessman should know them. When you get off the plane you go through passport control, where an immigration officer asks you to show your passport. He asks you about the purpose of your visit to the country and the length of your stay there. You may answer that you have arrived on a business trip for a week. If your passport is in order and you go through the customs.

It's not difficult to get through the customs but you’ll have to fill in an entry form (customs declaration) and then produce it to the customs officer, who checks the declaration. The customs officer inspects your bags (luggage) and asks if you have things liable to duty, any presents, things for your personal use or money about you. He informs you about what items are liable to duty and what things you may have duty free. As a rule personal things may be brought in duty free. The customs officer also asks you to put your suitcases (my luggage) on the scales, and if there's some extra weight you’ll have to pay extra taxes.

Two special signs are sometimes used to show passengers which way to go through the customs hall: «Nothing to declare» and «Goods to declare». In some countries they have the system of red and green doors. If the visitor has nothing to declare he walks through the green door, if he has goods to declare – through the red one.

Any article which hasn’t been declared or produced is liable to forfeiture and the person concerned is liable to prosecution. If you are law-abiding man you know some things are prohibited to be exported — weapons, narcotics, antiques and objects of art (paintings, drawings, icons, sculptures), precious metals, crude and processed natural precious stones, valuables, etc.

Transportation of animals, birds, live fish, insects and products of animal origin is under the inspection of the Veterinary Control. A passenger should have a medical certificate for his animal (a dog, a cat) to carry it in the passenger cabin. Any load or baggage containing seeds, bulbs, cuttings, vegetables and fruit are subject to the Plant Quarantine inspection. A passenger must have a special license to carry plant materials.

In some cases the customs inspector may ask passengers to open their bags for inspection. It sometimes happens that a passenger's luggage is carefully gone through (examined) in order to prevent smuggling. The formalities at the customs house usually take some time. After you are through with all customs formalities the inspector will put a stamp on each piece of your luggage and wish your to have a good stay in the country.