The Establishment and Application of the DNA of Customs Law and Practice

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This article is a synthesis of the author’s previously published books and theses (see Walsh, 1986; Walsh, 1996; Walsh, 2015, Walsh, 2020). Notwithstanding the findings of the Irish Commission on Taxation in 1985 (see Irish Government, 1985) (to the effect that they found customs law and administration to be “impenetrable” owing to its antiquity), the author takes the contrary view, which is that customs law, generally, has a perceptible pattern that can be traced and explained in a simple and straightforward manner to yield its raison d’être (its DNA). His particular premise is that identifiable and immutable principles of taxation and administration are at the heart of customs procedures and practices; that these principles of taxation and customs control determine the broad framework of customs legislation generally; and this has been the position from time immemorial, right up to the present day. To validate this premise, he has identified and distilled these formulating principles as they evolved over the centuries in Irish (and English) law. Having done so, he further goes on to house them within the framework of Adam Smith’s so-called canons of taxation (see Smith, 1776) to make them more meaningful in the overall scheme of taxation. It is worth noting that Smith was once a Commissioner of Customs in Scotland. At the same time, the author demonstrates that these principles are enshrined in the customs law of the European Union (EU) and have been influential in the formulation of the original, overarching Kyoto Convention on the Simplification and Harmonisation of Customs Procedures, and its successor, the Revised Kyoto Convention. During its Comparative Studies of Customs Procedures undertaken in the 1950s and 1960s (see Customs Co-operation Council, n.d.), the then Customs Co-operation Council (CCC – now the World Customs Organization) independently came to the same broad conclusion – albeit without identifying or specifying the underpinning individual principles involved. The studies covered the entire spectrum of customs law and embraced the procedures and practices in force in all the then Council member countries. The studies covered the following customs procedures: (a) Study No. 1 (1957) – Importation by Sea: Formalities on Arrival of Ships, prior to Unloading (b) Study No. 2 (1957) – Importation by Sea: Unloading (c) Study No. 3 (1958) – Importation by inland frontiers: Formalities on arrival up to presentation of goods declaration (d) Study No. 4 (1959) – Importation by Air: Formalities on arrival of aircraft, up to presentation of goods declaration (e) Study No. 5 – (Date Unknown) – Clearance of Goods for Home Use (f) Study No. 6 (1964) – Customs transit of imported goods (g) Study No. 7 (1965) – Customs warehousing procedure (h) Study No. 8 (1966) – Temporary Admission (i) Study No. 9 (1968) – Drawback (j) Study No. 10 (1966) – The right of appeal in customs matters (k) Study No. 11 (1968) – Rail traffic.