Таможеное дело

10.2 Read the text and translate it using the dictionary 

  Text A    The History of Russian Customs

  The current Russian word for Customs, tamozhnya, originated in the times of the Mongol-Tatar yoke. The word tamga, in Tatar, meant “ a Customs tax, the official who collected it, and the stamped seal or statement verifying that it had been paid”. Each market had its tamozhnya, and the right to collect duties could be purchased from the State. This right was often acquired by powerful merchants.

        The Russian Customs  Service, however, predates even the Mongol Yoke. Some three centuries before, in Kievan Rus, taxes were collected for the transportation of goods through the frontiers of its individual princedoms.

        Thus, Russia has had a Customs Service in some form for the past 1000 years. The first Russian Customs statute was handed down in 1667. It was strict towards foreigners, who were allowed to trade only in frontier towns on pain of confiscation. Every tsar, from Peter the Great to Nicolas II, approved laws limiting the import of foreign goods and defending Russian producers.

     During the Soviet period foreign trade was strictly monopolized in the USSR and Customs neither had any significant function in the economy or played any important role.

       Much was done to create Customs legislation in Russia in the period 1991- 94. Two important laws were adopted: “The Customs Code of the Russian Federation” and ”On Customs Tariff”. All provisions and regulations in these documents are of the world standard.

        Russia has the world’s longest border to police, much of it newly created and has a modern, multi-functioning Customs Service. It carries out the same functions as the Customs of other developed countries: fiscal functions, regulation oа foreign trade by means of tariff and non-tariff methods, law enforcement, collection and keeping of customs statistics concerning foreign trade, etc. (1500 symbols)

  10.2.1 Give the English equivalents of the following collocations:

fiscal function,  customs legislation,  non-tariff method ,  law enforcement , tariff method,  foreign trade regulation

  

 

       10.2.2 Find in the text the words which follow the verbs below:

to collect                 to keep out               to approve               to limit        

to defend                 to bring                     to create                  to carry out

10.2.3  Find  the  words/phrases  in  the  text  which  have  the  following meanings:

1)  to give, to pass                                                         5) function of public revenue

2)  to show the truth of                                                 6) benefit, profit

3) borders                                                                        7) to adopt (a law)

4)  at the risk of                                                             8) renewal of friendly relations

  10.2.4 What words in the text mean: 

a) to buy, to get

b) to keep safe, to guard

с) rule made by authority

  10.2.5 Match left and right.

 

10.3 Be ready to talk about the main periods of the Russian Customs development using the information given below 

10th century   Customs Service in Kievan Rus

1137   First Customs House in Novgorod

16th century   the appearance of the Customs Charter

1653   introduction of the Trade Statute 1755    First Customs Code

December 14, 1924  Customs Statute of the USSR

December 19, 1928    first Customs Code of the USSR

October 25, 1991    Decree “On the State Customs Committee of the Russian Federation” 

August 4, 1985    Decree by the President of the Russian Federation setting 

October 25 as Russian Customs Officer’s Day

 10.4 Read the text and translate it using the dictionary 

 Text B   History of the U.S. Customs Service

       The  U.S.  Customs  Service  has  a  long  history.  With  ratification  by  the necessary number of states, the Constitution of the United States went into effect on March 4, 1789. A bit more than four months later, on July 31 of that year, the U.S. Customs Service started operating, among the very first of the feagencies to come to life. It was given a life-and-death mission. 

       The young nation was then on the brink of bankruptcy. The first Congress and President Washington agreed that the collection of duties on imported goods was essential if the United States were to survive. 

       Only a few days after Customs drew its first breath, on August 5, 1789, the power of the service went from theory to reality when Captain James Weeks sailed his brigatine, Persis, into New York harbor with a miscellaneous cargo from Leghorn, Italy. The duty on the cargo - the first such payment ever made to the United States Treasury  - was $774.41. 

        While the payment was modest, it was the initial fiscal prop for a very young and shaky government. More was to come. In its first year of operation, the service collected over $2 million in duties. And for the next 124 years -- until that moment in 1913 when the amendment authorizing the income tax was approved -- customs remained a major source of revenue for the federal government. Thus the Customs Service, especially in the early years of the nation, proved the truth of that profound maxim: "the revenue of the state is the state." 

        As described in the strategic plan of the U.S.Customs, the agency faces five distinct strategic challenges. They are: the continued threat of narcotics smuggling, terrorists, the growth of world trade, the proliferation of trade agreements and general public resistance to increasing the budget of the federal government.        (1500 symbols)

  10.4.1 What do these numbers and dates mentioned in the text refer to:

124    $2 million   1913    March 4       $774.41      1789

10.4.2 Match these statements as true or false:

1) The Constitution of the USA went into effect on July31, 1789. 

2) The agency faces four strategic challenges.

3)  In its first year of operation the service collected over $2 million in duties.

4) Customs remained a major source of revenue for the federal government until the income tax was approved.

5) The U.S. Customs Service was among the very first of the federal agencies to come to life.

10.5 Do you know that on a typical day, U.S. Customs and Border Protection...

 Protects more than:                                                                         Manages:

5,000 miles of border with Canada                                             317 ports of entry

1,900 miles of border with Mexico                                             20 sectors with 33 border checkpoints

95,000 miles of shoreline                                                             between the ports of entry

                                                         Processes more than:

1.1 million passengers and pedestrians, including 724,192 aliens, 64,432 truck, rail, and sea containers, 2,639 aircraft, 365,079 vehicles, 75,734 merchandise entries, and collected $74 million in revenue

 Executes more than:                                                                            Refuses entry of:

135 arrests at ports of entry                                                        1,237 non-citizens at our ports of entry

3,179 arrests between ports of entry                                     54 criminal aliens attempting to enter the US

                                                            Seizes an average of:

2,313 pounds of narcotics in 131 narcotic seizures at our ports of entry

3,634 pounds of narcotics in 24 seizures between our ports of entry

$205,576 in currency; 193 firearms; 49 vehicles between our ports of entry

4,224 prohibited plant materials or animal products, including 189 significant agriculture pest interceptions at our ports of entry

Rescues more than:                                                                                     Intercepts more than:

4 illegal crossers in dangerous                                                                  210 fraudulent documents

conditions between our ports of entry                                               1 traveler for terrorism/national

                                                                                                                         security concerns; 1 stowaway

10.6 Grammar Assignments 

10.6.1 Read the following text and fill in the gaps with suitable words from the box given below:

               The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Mission Statement

We are the  ….. of our Nation’s borders. We are America’s frontline.

We …..  the American homeland at and ….. our borders.

We …..  the American public against terrorists and the instruments of terror.

We steadfastly enforce the laws of the United States while ….. our Nation’s economic security through lawful international trade and travel.

We serve the American public with  ….. , integrity and professionalism. safeguard guardians beyond protect fostering    vigilance

10.6.2 Use the verbs given in brackets in Past Simple to complete the text: 

                           History of Russian Passports and Citizenship

  In the 16th— 17th centuries it 1) ….. (be) necessary to obtain a special document    from the tsar which 2) ….. (give) permission to go abroad, since departure from the    country was strictly limited. During the reign of Peter the Great hundreds of young   Russians 3) ….. (go) to Western Europe to study. But by the end of the epoch of  Catherine the Great, the State put a lot of obstacles to foreign travel because of the fear    of  revolutionary ideas that 4) ….. (can) come from Europe.

    Nicholas I 5) ….. (forbid) the education of children abroad and, consequently, created lots of work for foreign teachers in Russia. It was only Alexander II who  6) ….. (allow) youths to study abroad after reaching age 17. Other restrictions were cancelled in 1881. Young people under age 20 were allowed to leave Russia only if they 7) ….. (have) serious reasons to go, such as education, medical treatment or trade.

    The Russian Empire had no domestic passports. They 8) ….. (be) made only for travel abroad and were valid for 5 years. Every 6 years anyone, who was absent from Russia, had to pay a tax, equal to 15 roubles.

10.6.3 Put the verbs in brackets using ing-forms or Participle II:

                                                     Soviet period

    After 1917 the practice of 1) ….. (issue) passports for travel abroad remained the same. They were valid for 6 months and then could be 2) ….. (prolong) for an-other half a year or even a longer period but only by special solicitation. The control over all those who crowed the border was very strict. 3) ….. (accord) to the Rules 4) ….. (adopt) in 1922, one could go abroad only by permission of a special governmental department.

    At the same time, 5) ….. (gain) the Russian citizenship in 1918 was very simple: a man needed only to apply to the Department of Foreign Affairs. It was only in 1921 that the government took away the citizenship of all those people who had left the country before the revolution and who had been living abroad for five years.

    The USSR was created in 1922 and in 1924 Soviet citizenship was introduced. Passports were 6) ….. (give) only to those who went abroad. In 1925 three types of documents appeared:  diplomatic passports (green), official ones (for those who went abroad for business, they were blue) and passports for other citizens (red). This system was 7) ….. (maintain) almost till the end of the 20th century.

     The situation 8) ….. (concern) domestic passports is also worthy of our attention. After 1917 everybody's identity could be 9) ….. (establish) by any document with a photo and a stamp. Until 1923 issuing such documents was a very simple process: every governmental organization had the right lo prepare them.

     Nevertheless, by  the  end of  the 1920s this anarchy could not be supported anymore and a special commission was 10) ….. (create). The government aimed at resolving three problems at the same time. First of all, to not allow people 11) ….. (live) in the countryside to leave their homes, secondly, to do the same with people m cities and, finally, to control and persecute "enemies" of the Soviet regime.

     But  passports  were  not  given  to everyone: only lo inhabitants of cities, workers, and those who lived in a sovkhoz: People in the countryside had no passport and were 12) ….. (prohibit) to leave their village for more than five days.

     Citizens who were living abroad would not take their interior passports with them.  If somebody planned to leave forever, he had to give his documents to a special department.

 

 

  Unit 11 Why worry about Ethics?

11.1.1 Read the following verbs and guess their meaning: 

diminish   obstruct  obey  solve  commit  hinder  accomplish  maintain

  11.1.2 Read the words and collocations. Try to memorize them:

illicit -                                      незаконный

trafficking                                  провоз

confidence                                доверие

deal                                             иметь дело 

determine                                  определять

ultimate                                     абсолютный

stick to the rules                     придерживаться правил

code of conduct                        кодекс поведения

framework                                рамки

appropriate                               допустимый

diligence                                   прилежание, старание, усердие

impartiality                               беспристрастность, объективность

unbiased                                   объективный

comply with                             соответствовать

breach                                      нарушение закона

gravely                                      серьезно, здраво

prohibited                                  запрещенный

accept                                         bribes  брать взятки

penalty                                       наказание, взыскание, штраф

habitually                                   обычно, привычно

fairness                                       справедливость

accountability                             ответственность

integrity                                      прямота, честность

exemplary                                   примерный

11.2 Read the text about ethics in customs matters

         Text A                Why Worry About Ethics?

       Сorruption can destroy the efficient functioning of any society and diminish the ability of the Customs Service to accomplish its mission. A corrupt Customs Service will not deliver the revenue that is properly due to the state; it will not be efficient in the fight against illicit trafficking and will obstruct the growth of legitimate international trade and hinder economic development.                                                                                  Customs has important public responsibilities and must demonstrate high ethical standards to inspire public confidence in the integrity of the service. The community has a right to expect that the behaviour of Customs staff will be in line with their expectations - that is courteous, efficient and above all, ethical.  Ethics deals with the fundamental issues of practical decision-making, and its major concerns include the nature of ultimate value and the standards by which human actions can be judged right or wrong.   Ethics is a set of principles which determines standards of personal and professional behaviour. It is not just obeying the law, or sticking to rules and regulations; ethics goes beyond the law to include the way of making and justifying decisions when it is not completely clear what is the right or wrong thing to do. While there is no set of rules capable of providing answers to all ethical questions which arise, a code of conduct may serve as a guide to solving issues for those working in Customs, and those who have dealings with officers of Customs. In many countries it provides the framework for appropriate conduct in a variety of contexts and establishes standards of behaviour expected of Customs officers. "The Code of Ethics and Conduct Booklet" developed by the Australian Customs Service emphasizes the following issues:                                                                                                                                                                                    "...Personal Behaviour. Customs officers are to: perform official duties with skills, care, diligence and impartiality, using authority in a fair and unbiased way; observe acts, regulations, instructions and lawful directions; provide the public with service in a professional manner; not take improper advantage of any official information acquired in the course of official duties..."                                                                                        "Criminal offences. All officers of Customs must comply with the law. Breaches of criminal law will lead to prosecution and / or disciplinary action... Offences relating to legislation which Customs administers are regarded most gravely when committed by Customs officers. Customs officers who commit offences involving prohibited drugs, fraud, accepting bribes, or illegal importation or exportation of goods will be subject to disciplinary action, in addition to any penalty applied as a result of criminal proceedings..."