Customs Ordinance [New Version]

In this Ordinance and in all other customs laws –

"packing" – includes anything in which goods intended for carriage are packed, covered, wrapped, contained or bundled;

"foreign country" or "abroad" – any place outside Israel;

"owner", in relation to goods – the owner, importer, exporter, consignee or agent of those goods, and any person who holds, or is entitled to the benefit of, or has control over or power to deal with, them, and any person who holds himself out as one of the foregoing, excluding a customs officer acting in his official capacity;

"owner", in relation to a conveyance – includes a person acting as the agent of the owner, or a person whom the owner has authorised to receive freight or other payments made in connection with that conveyance;

"wharf owner" – includes a person in occupation of the wharf;

"collector of customs" – the Director and any collector of customs, as well as a principal officer acting at that time and at that place and any customs officer acting in that matter;

"late payment charges" and "shekel interest" – as defined in the Interest and Linkage Law;

"smuggling" – the importation of goods, or their exportation, or their carriage along the coast or across land borders, with intent to defraud the Treasury or to evade any prohibition, restriction or regulation relating to the importation, exportation or carriage of such goods, and includes any attempt to do any of those acts with such intent;

"unlawful carriage", in relation to smuggled or forfeited goods – their carriage without authority;

"drawback" – the refund of customs duty pursuant to the provisions of Chapter IX, or the cancellation of a customs debt the payment of which has been deferred pursuant to section 160b(a) and the drawback condition has been fulfilled;

"import declaration" – as defined in section 62;

"export declaration" – as defined in section 103;

"Electronic Signature Law" – Electronic Signature Law, 5761-2001;

"Value Added Tax Law" – Value Added Tax Law, 5736-1975;

"Customs Agents Law" – Customs Agents Law, 5725-1964;

"Interest and Linkage Law" – Interest and Linkage Law, 5721-1961;

"explosives" – nitroglycerine, dynamite, gun-cotton, blasting powder, mercury or other metal fulminating salts, and any other explosive materials that are a compound of any of the foregoing materials or that contain components also present in any of the foregoing materials, excluding gunpowder, percussion caps, rockets or fuses, but including fireworks;

"dutiable goods" – goods on which customs duty is payable;

"days" – (deleted);

"conveyance" – a vessel, vehicle, aircraft or animal used for the carriage of goods;

"warehouse" – a place in which goods entered for warehousing may be deposited, kept and secured;

"customs warehouse" – a place allocated or approved by the Government for the deposit of goods in order to secure them and the duties payable thereon;

"licensed warehouse" – a place that is licensed for the deposit of goods approved for warehousing within the meaning of Chapter V and in which they may be deposited, kept and secured until their release from customs authority supervision as referred to in section 14;

"coins" – whether metal coins or paper money;

"Director" – as defined in the Income Tax Ordinance [New Version];

"import taxes" – customs duty, purchase tax on imports within the meaning of the Purchase Tax (Goods and Services) Law, 5712-1952, value added tax on imports within the meaning of the Value Added Tax Law, 5736-1975, and any other tax or levy imposed on the importation of goods under any law;

"preference documents" – documents issued pursuant to a trade agreement to which Israel is a party that grants, inter alia, preferential customs rates, which include declarations as to the origin of the goods and their compliance with the conditions for obtaining preferential customs rates under that agreement; for the purpose of this definition, "preference" – includes a reduction or exemption;

"electronic message" – as defined in the Electronic Signature Law;

"manifest" – as defined in section 53;

"port" – any of the following, provided that the Director has approved them for the purposes of this Ordinance:

"customs agent" – as defined in the Customs Agents Law;

"by authority" – pursuant to the authorisation of the Director or of a collector of customs;

"Import and Export Ordinance" – Import and Export Ordinance [New Version], 5739-1979;

"customs officer" – any person employed in the service of the customs authority other than as a labourer, and any government employee serving at that time in customs authority duties;

"publication" – includes anything written or printed, and anything that contains a visual description, or that by its form, shape or any other aspect is capable of suggesting words or ideas, whether it is by its nature similar to writing or print or not, and any copy or reproduction of such a publication;

"periodical publications" – any publication issued at frequent intervals, or in parts or numbers and at intervals, whether regular or irregular;

"master" – the person in charge of or in command of a vessel or a person who has assumed command thereof, excluding a pilot or a government employee;

"wharf" – a place allocated or approved by the Government for the deposit or loading of goods;

"licensed" – in respect of which a licence has been granted by the Director;

"customs authority" – the Customs and Excise Department;

"transhipment" – the exportation from Israel of goods that were imported, provided that the goods were subject to customs supervision from the time of their entry into Israel until their exportation from Israel, and whether or not the goods were unloaded in Israel from a conveyance at a port and loaded onto another conveyance at the same port or at another port;

"documents" – documents of any kind, including books, computer printouts and any information stored in a computer or in databases.

A person who is required under this Ordinance to answer a question is obliged to give a correct answer to the best of his knowledge and belief; a person who is required under this Ordinance to produce documents is obliged to produce to the collector, to the best of his ability, all relevant documents.

The Director shall be responsible for the management of affairs under this Ordinance.

The Director may, by writing signed by him, delegate to a customs officer such of his powers under any customs law as relate to a particular matter or a particular class of matters or to particular district or sub-district areas; a delegation of a power may be revoked, in writing, at the Director's discretion and does not prevent him from exercising any of his powers.

Vessels in the service of the customs authority shall fly, for purposes of identification, a flag of the prescribed form.

Every wharf owner is obliged to provide at his wharf, to the satisfaction of the Director, a suitable place for office work for the exclusive use of the customs officer working at the wharf, as well as a covered place for the keeping of goods if the Director has given written notice that there is a need for this.

Any declaration under this Ordinance may be made before a collector of customs or a customs officer authorised for that purpose, or before any person authorised by law to receive declarations.

The Government may make Regulations prescribing fees for –

Goods shall be subject to customs authority supervision as follows:

Goods found in a conveyance arriving from abroad shall also be subject to customs authority supervision for as long as the conveyance is within the limits of a port in Israel or is engaged in the foreign trade of Israel.

The supervision of the customs authority includes its right to examine any goods subject to its supervision.

The carriage of goods from a lighter or from a barge or wharf, their conveyance to the proper place for examination and weighing, their placing on the scales, their opening, unlashing, repacking, sorting, marking and numbering, whenever such operations are necessary or permitted, as well as the removal of goods to the proper place of deposit and their placing therein until their proper delivery – shall be carried out by or at the expense of the owner of the goods.

A customs officer may require that any package that is not marked or numbered, or whose marking or numbering is insufficient, be subjected to either or both of those operations, at the expense of the owner of the goods.

The customs authority and the State shall not be liable for any loss or damage caused to goods subject to customs authority supervision, unless caused wilfully by one of the customs officers.

In respect of imported goods or goods intended for export, an import declaration shall be submitted to the customs authority in accordance with the provisions of Section E of Chapter IV, or an export declaration in accordance with the provisions of Section B of Chapter VI, as the case may be.

Notwithstanding the provisions of section 24, goods that are accompanied baggage of passengers on a vessel or any other conveyance may be imported and exported, subject to the conditions prescribed therefor, without an import declaration or an export declaration, as the case may be.

Where security is required for a particular purpose, it is permitted, by authority of the Director, to accept a security that covers all transactions to be carried out within the period and up to the amount approved by the Director.

Where a deposit has been given in cash and its conditions have not been fulfilled within the period prescribed therefor, the deposit may be forfeited.

Should the collector of customs at any time be of the opinion that the security is insufficient, he may demand new security.

Where the collector of customs has brought a claim on a security given to customs, the production of the security bond, without additional evidence, shall entitle the collector of customs to obtain, against the persons who are apparently the signatories of the security bond, a judgment for performance of the undertaking therein, unless the defendants prove that they have fulfilled the conditions of the bond, or that the bond was not signed by them, or that they have been released from the liability, or that they have discharged their obligation.

Any permit specified in any of the customs laws may be granted subject to prescribed conditions, and the collector of customs may cancel, vary or suspend it.

Goods imported by post shall be subject to the supervision of the customs authority in the same manner as goods imported by any other means.