Sovereign Base Areas Customs and Immigration

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Sovereign Base Areas Customs and Immigration
HeadquartersSBAA, Episkopi Garrison
Fiscal Officer
James Coates
Head Customs & Immigration
Adam Chatfield
HM Revenue & Customs
SBA Customs vehicle

Sovereign Base Areas Customs and Immigration is a semi-

Sovereign Base Area, and home to British Forces Cyprus. It is managed by the Ministry of Defence
(MoD) and around 3,500 military personnel are posted there at any one time.

In contrast with other customs forces the SBA Customs has a much wider role of responsibility, like most branches within the territory, administrating many areas including immigration, imports, exports, tax, births, marriages, divorces, and deaths.

Overview

The senior and local management officers are on loan from HMRC and Border Force in the UK, and assist with operational management and training and development of the locally employed officers of SBA Customs and Immigration service. SBACI officers monitor two crossing points at Pergamos and Strovilia in the Eastern Sovereign Base Area at the

UK military
units based in Cyprus at the time.

Businesses based within territory must be licensed by SBA Customs and Immigration to conduct trade and there are guidelines and restrictions for various types of business. The administration produces birth, marriage and death certificates for UK dependants based within the territory.

Working in unison with the Cyprus Joint Maritime Unit comprising the Royal Navy Cyprus Squadron and 417 Maritime of the RLC, the Sovereign Base Area Administration (SBAA) operate a combined maritime unit comprising joint working of

mole
in Akrotiri and Dhekelia.

Sovereign Base Areas
are shown in red, and are where the SBA Customs operate.

Personnel

SBA Customs and Immigration

RN lieutenant commander
. Locally employed uniformed operational officers at RAF Akrotiri and the military station at Dhekelia and the ESBA crossing points wear badges of rank with one or two rings of braid according to their substantive grade.

Responsibilities

SBA Customs and Immigration control tax-free imports at the airports and the crossing points within the territory by regulating the value and amount of goods such as cigarettes or alcohol that can be carried through the control and entry points without declaration. The main airport is

Pergamos checkpoint near Larnaca
.

SBA Customs and Immigration regulate the sale of goods with limited imported stocks at

BFPO[clarification needed
] addresses on the island is subject to inspection by the SBA Customs and they can, for example, question the legitimacy of parcels marked as "gifts" and charge duties and tax as appropriate.

Ranks

Ranks of the SBA Customs
Commander
The Fiscal Officer
Lieutenant-Commander

Deputy Fiscal Officer
Officer in Charge of Dhekalia 		Grade 1 Officer/ Team Leader
Grade 2 Officer

Operating procedure

Main article: Akrotiri and Dhekelia

The territory of

1960 treaty with Cyprus
, the Sovereign Base Areas Administration have to follow specific rules of governance to which the SBA Customs and Immigration enforces and adheres to including:

  • Not to develop the Sovereign Base Areas for other than military purposes.
  • Not to set up and administer "colonies".
  • Not to create customs posts or other frontier barriers between the Sovereign Base Areas and the Republic.
  • Not to set up or permit the establishment of civilian commercial or industrial enterprises except insofar as these are connected with military requirements, and not otherwise to impair the economic commercial or industrial unity and life of the Island.
  • Not to establish commercial or civilian
    seaports
    or airports.
  • Not to allow new settlement of people in the Sovereign Base Areas other than for temporary purposes.
  • Not to
    expropriate private property within the Sovereign Base Areas except for military purposes on payment of fair compensation
    .

The bases have their own legal system, distinct from the UK and Cyprus. This consists of the laws of the Colony of Cyprus as at August 1960, amended as necessary. The laws of Akrotiri and Dhekelia are kept, as far as possible, the same as the laws of Cyprus. The Court of the Sovereign Base Areas is concerned with non-military offences committed by any person within Akrotiri and Dhekelia, and law and order is maintained by the Sovereign Base Areas Police, while military law is upheld by the Cyprus Joint Police Unit.

See also

References


External links

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