Customs misdemeanors regime: Legal analysis, issues and recommendations for solution

Customs procedures are subject to intense legal regulations because of that it is an important source of public revenue and covers protection of consumers, the environment, intellectual property rights and species. For this purpose, monetary and procedural liabilities of individuals to customs procedures is audited by the customs administration and in order to ensure continuity of this compliance and to prevent violations some sanctions that are expected to be effective, proportionate and dissuasive are envisaged in relevant legislation. It is important that disclosure, investigation and imposing of the acts constituting customs misdemeanor in the framework of a legal regime shaped by the misdemeanor law for providing of customs administrative order and for protection of the rights of law-abiding people. The subject of this study is the legal analysis of customs misdemeanor in the framework of the general principles of misdemeanor that aranged in Customs Law numbered 4458 and Misdemeanor Law numbered 5326. To this end, a wide range of literature, legislation and judicial decision have been searched and implementations of selected countries have been examined. In this study, it has been reached to the conclusion that, unlike general tax misdemeanors, customs misdemeanors comply largely with the general principles of the misdemeanor law, both in terms of legal provisions and implementations of the customs administration.