|
HM Customs and Excise (properly known as Her Majesty's Customs and Excise (or His as appropriate), often abbreviated to HMCE) was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government in the UK. It was responsible for the collection of Value added tax (VAT), Customs Duties, Excise Duties, and other indirect taxes such as Air Passenger Duty, Climate Change Levy, Insurance Premium Tax, Landfill Tax and Aggregates Levy. It was also responsible for managing the import and export of goods and services into the UK. HMCE merged with the Inland Revenue (which was responsible for the administration and collection of direct taxes) to form a new department, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), with effect from 18 April 2005.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=About us )〕 HM Customs and Excise Investigators guarded the borders of the United Kingdom from smugglers. Following a 1971 amalgamation, the service included the former Waterguard, whose uniformed officers had long been a common sight at entry points into the United Kingdom; its insignia included a portcullis. Customs officers had authority throughout the country, including the powers of entry to premises and of arrest. These functions (and the organisation responsible for them) were transferred to HMRC, and further transferred (at least in part) in 2008 to the UK Border Agency of the Home Office.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Launch of Britain's new unified Border Agency )〕 The prefix of HM abbreviates "Her Majesty's" or "His Majesty's", depending on the gender of the reigning monarch. ==Customs== The Board of Customs, responsible for collecting His or Her Majesty's Customs, had a very long history. Originally, the term ''customs'' meant any customary payments or dues of any kind (for example, to the king, or a bishop, or the church), but later became restricted to duties payable to the king on the import or export of goods. The centralised English customs system can be traced to the Winchester Assize of Customs of 1203, in the reign of King John, from which time customs were to be collected and paid to the State Treasury. Legislation concerning customs can be traced to King Edward I. Under the ''nova custuma'' in 1275, Collectors of Customs were appointed by Royal patent and, in 1298, ''custodes custumae'' were appointed in certain ports to collect customs for the Crown. The first Customs officers were appointed in 1294, and later on included Geoffrey Chaucer, Thomas Paine, Robert Burns and Richard Whittington (also known as Dick Whittington). A Board of Customs was effectively created by ordinance on 21 January 1643, under which the regulation of the collection of customs was entrusted to a parliamentary committee. A fleet of Customs Cutters (most recently 42 metre Damen patrol vessels) continued to operate after the merger with the Inland Revenue, throughout UK territorial waters, inspecting vessels for illicit cargoes, especially for drugs and the excessive fish catches which wreaked havoc on the European fishing community in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Customs could call on the Royal Navy to assist in apprehending a non-compliant vessel; Customs also worked closely with the Royal Navy's Fishery Protection Squadron. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「HM Customs and Excise」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|