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in examining currency and foreign currency, would also likely be able to establish the existence
of prohibited goods before the Courts.
4. “UNCUSTOMED GOODS”
Apart from prohibited or restricted goods, the next major class of goods subject to offences
under Customs law is “uncustomed goods”. Simply put, “uncustomed goods” are those for which
customs duty liability has not been paid or secured and/or which have been dealt with contrary to
Customs law; the latter of which also captures prohibited or restricted goods which have been
smuggled into or out of a country. The definition of “uncustomed goods” in Customs law
throughout the Caribbean region is largely consistent and is reproduced as:
“uncustomed goods” includes goods liable to duty on which full duties due have not
been paid or secured, and any goods, whether liable to duty or not, that are imported
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or exported or in any way dealt with contrary to any customs enactment.
Importantly, in jurisdictions like Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia
and Trinidad and Tobago, the antithesis to “uncustomed goods” are goods which have been
“entered”. In these jurisdictions, the following has been incorporated into Customs law:
“entered" in relation to goods imported, warehoused, put on board an aircraft or
ship as stores or exported means the acceptance and signature by the proper officer
of an entry, specification, or shipping bill, and declaration signed by the importer or
exporter on the prescribed form in the prescribed manner, together with the payment
to the proper officer by the importer or exporter of all rents and charges due to the
government in respect of the goods, and, in the case of dutiable goods (except on the
entry for warehousing of imported goods), the payment by the importer or exporter
to the proper officer of the full duties due thereon, or else, where permitted, the
24 See Antigua and Barbuda: Section 2(1) of the Customs (Control and Management) Act, the Bahamas:
Section 2 of the Customs Management Act, Barbados: Section 2(1) of the Customs Act, Dominica:
Section 2(1) of the Customs Act, Grenada: Section 2 of the Customs Act, Guyana: Section 2 of the
Customs Act, Jamaica: Section 2(1) of the Customs Act, St. Kitts and Nevis: section 2 of the Customs Act
and Trinidad and Tobago: Section 2 of the Customs Act. Notably, in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago,
the words “or secured” are absent and in Belize, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the term
“entered” is absent from Customs law
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