OTTAWA: The Collector of Customs has announced the discontinuation of its Form 52a goods registration service for travellers, effective 3rd August 2015.
“Islanders planning to travel overseas have become accustomed to applying at the Hamilton Custom House to be issued with a wallet sized yellow Customs Forms 52a goods registration form by Customs Officers,” the announcement said.
“The Form 52a service is a voluntary paper based system under which readily identifiable goods of any value acquire a rebuttable paper certificate of duty payment or production in Bermuda. The Form 52a service provided by the Customs Department was originally intended as a ready means of providing some evidence of entitlement to duty relief [but not conclusive evidence] upon re-importation of the relevant goods into Bermuda.
“Against the backdrop of significantly reduced staffing levels the Collector of Customs conducted a review of the Form 52a service and found that the service—
“Accordingly, the Form 52a is to be discontinued.
“Travellers who have already been issued with Form 52as for their goods may continue to present them to Customs on arrival in Bermuda.
“For the avoidance of doubt, goods being re-exported for the purposes of repairs, alterations, or for the purposes of duty refund or drawback, should still be examined by Customs Officers and registered with the Customs Department on the long form [white]Form 52.
“The Collector of Customs wishes to assure the travelling public that the discontinuation of the Form 52a service is unlikely to result in any significant variation in the number of baggage examinations or challenges by Customs Officers concerning duty payment.”
The Collector stated, “Our Officers will only challenge a traveller where they have reasonable grounds to suspect that the traveller has made a false or incomplete customs declaration or is carrying or has under his or her control any prohibited or restricted goods or proceeds of crime.”
The Collector of Customs would encourage the travelling public to retain records of their local and overseas purchases for a reasonable period, so that in the event that a Customs Officer asks for evidence of duty payment, such records might be produced in support of the duty paid status of the relevant goods.
