Customs

Customs

Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country. Depending on local legislation and regulations, the import or export of some goods may be restricted or forbidden, and the customs agency enforces these rules. The customs authority may be different from the immigration authority, which monitors persons who leave or enter the country, checking for appropriate documentation, apprehending people wanted by international arrest warrants, and impeding the entry of others deemed dangerous to the country. In most countries customs are attained through government agreements and international laws.

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Famous quotes containing the word customs:

    Change often makes accepted customs into crimes.
    Mason Cooley (b. 1927)

    O Kate, nice customs curtsy to great kings. Dear Kate, you
    and I cannot be confined within the weak list of a country’s
    fashion. We are the makers of manners, Kate.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    So easy is it, though many housekeepers doubt it, to establish new and better customs in the place of the old.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)