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Customs Airports Regulations

LAWS OF TONGA

1988 Revised Edition

CHAPTER 152A
Regulation 1

CUSTOMS AIRPORTS REGULATIONS

Made by Her Majesty in Council on 17th October 1960
G.S. 205/60, G.S. 4/62
SECTION 4

CIVIL AVIATION ACT 1990

These Regulations may be cited as the Customs Airports Regulations.

(1). The Prime Minister with the consent of Cabinet may, subject to such conditions as he may think fit, by order designate any aerodrome to be a place of landing or departure of aircraft for the purpose of the enactments relating to Customs.

(2). Any aerodrome so designated is in these regulations referred to as a "customs airport".

(3). The Prime Minister with the consent of Cabinet may by order declare that a customs airport shall no longer be a customs airport.

3. Every person shall comply with such of the provisions contained in the Schedule to these regulations as may be applicable to that person in the circumstances of the case.
Regulation 4 CAP. 152A Customs Airports Regulations

4. The provisions of the following Statutes and all regulations, orders and proclamations made thereunder shall apply mutatis mutandis to any goods or persons landed or arriving at any aerodrome in the Kingdom-

(a) the Customs and Excise Act;

(b) the Rhinoceros Beetle Act;

(c) the Plant Quarantine Act.

5. The penalty for a breach of these regulations where no penalty is otherwise provided, shall be imprisonment for any period not exceeding 3 months or a fine not exceeding $100, or both fine and imprisonment. (Substituted, G.S. 4/62.)

* These Regulations were originally made as Regulations 11, 12, 13 and 14 of the Kingdom of Tonga Air Navigation Regulations and appeared at page 1717 of Volume III of the 1967 edition of the Laws of Tonga. By section 72 of Act 26 of 1973 (Civil Aviation Act) those Regulations (except for regulations 11-14 and Schedule II) were repealed.

SCHEDULE

1. Interpretation

For the purposes of this Schedule, unless the context otherwise requires –

"officer" means officer of Customs;

"proper officer" means the appropriate officer at an aerodrome and includes a person acting for that officer and also any officer superior in matters of Customs;

"commander" means the person having or taking the charge or command of an aircraft;

"crew" includes any person having or taking the charge or command of an aircraft;

"abroad" means outside the Kingdom of Tonga;

"approved" means approved by the Controller of customs;

"examination station" means a part of, or a place or space at, a Customs airport approved as an examination station.

2. Arrival in and Departure from the Kingdom

(1). The commander of an aircraft entering the Kingdom of Tonga from abroad shall not, without special permission in writing of the Controller of Customs, cause or permit it to land for the first time after its arrival therein at any place other than a Customs airport.

(2). The commander of an aircraft engaged in a flight from the Kingdom of Tonga to a place abroad shall not, without the special permission in writing of the Controller of Customs, cause or permit it to take off at any place in the Kingdom of Tonga other than a Customs airport specified in the application for clearance required by paragraph five of this Schedule.

(3). The requirements of this paragraph shall not apply if the aircraft has been compelled to land owing to accident, stress or weather or other unavoidable cause.

3. Arrival from Abroad

(1). Upon the arrival from abroad of an aircraft at a Customs airport, the commander shall. –

(a). immediately take the aircraft to the examination station at that airport, or cause it to be so taken;

(b). forthwith deliver to the proper officer. –

(i). the documents constituting the clearance outwards of the aircraft from the airport which it last left and, if so required by the officer, the journey log book belonging to the aircraft;

(ii). a report in duplicate of the aircraft in an approved form;

(iii). a manifest in duplicate in an approved form of the goods on board the aircraft;

(iv). a passenger manifest in an approved form containing the names of all passengers carried in the aircraft and their places of embarkation and destination; and

(v). a list in duplicate in an approved form of the stores on board the aircraft;

(c). cause all passengers carried in the aircraft to leave the aircraft with their baggage for examination, and produce to the proper officer and unload all goods and stores in the aircraft, except such passengers, goods or stores as are to be carried on to another Customs airport or to a destination abroad and are permitted by such officer to be so carried on without compliance with the requirements aforesaid:

Provided that, if an aircraft has landed at a Customs airport and the commander through circumstances over which he has no control is prevented from taking it or causing it to be taken to the examination station, he shall-

(i). deliver forthwith to the proper officer the documents required by clause (b) of this subparagraph; and

(ii). remove all goods and stores laden in the aircraft to the examination station in the presence of an officer.

(2). Every passenger in an aircraft shall comply with any directions given to him by the commander for the purpose of subparagraph one (c) of this paragraph.

(3). In this paragraph the expression "arrival from abroad" includes arrival at a Customs airport to which passengers, goods, or stores from abroad have been permitted by an officer to be carried on in accordance with subparagraph one (c) hereof.

4. Importation of Goods

(1). No person who shall import or bring, or be concerned in importing or bringing, any goods into the Kingdom of Tonga in any aircraft shall without the special permission in writing of the Controller of Customs –

(a). bring the goods into the Kingdom of Tonga at any place therein other than a customs airport; or

(b). unload the goods or suffer the same to be unloaded from the aircraft in which they were imported except during approved hours and at an examination station (save in accordance with the proviso to subparagraph one of paragraph three of this Schedule) or before the report mentioned in subparagraph one (b) (ii) of the said paragraph three has been delivered and the consent of the proper officer to such unloading has been obtained; or

(c). remove the goods from an examination station without the authority of the proper officer except in accordance with any special permission granted by the Controller of Customs and in compliance with any conditions attached to any such permission.

(2). The importer, or the agent of the importer, of any goods of which delivery has not been permitted by the proper officer shall deposit the same in an approved transit shed at the Customs airport at which they were imported, and, for the purposes of the enactments relating to Customs, any goods so deposited shall until the same shall have been duly entered in accordance with those enactments, be deemed to be goods still on board the importing aircraft.

(3). No person shall, without permission of the proper officer, remove any goods from the transit shed.

5. Departure for Abroad

(1). No person shall, without the special permission in writing of the Controller of Customs depart on a flight for a place abroad from any place in the Kingdom of Tonga other than a Customs airport.

(2). Before any aircraft shall depart for a place abroad from a Customs airport the commander shall take the aircraft to the examination station at that airport or cause it to be so taken, and shall deliver to the proper officer the journey log book belonging to the aircraft, and the following documents-

(a). a notice of intended departure and application for clearance in duplicate in an approved form;

(b). a manifest in duplicate in an approved form of the goods on board the aircraft;

(c). a passenger manifest in an approved form containing the names of all passengers carried in the aircraft and their places of embarkation and destination; and

(d). a list in duplicate in an approved form of the stores laden and of stores remaining on board the aircraft, and the said documents, when signed by the said officer, shall for the purposes of the enactments relating to Customs, be the clearance and authority for the aircraft to proceed from the airport.

(3). The commander of an aircraft departing for a place abroad shall not permit any goods, stores or passengers to be laden or taken on board the aircraft except at an examination station, or before he has delivered to the proper officer a notice of intended departure and an application for clearance in accordance with sub-paragraph two (a) of this paragraph.

(4). If an aircraft in the course of a flight to a place abroad lands at a customs airport, the commander shall, before the aircraft leaves that airport, deliver to the proper officer-

(a). the clearance and authority for the aircraft to proceed from the Customs airport which it has left;

(b). the journey log book belonging to the aircraft;

(c). a manifest in duplicate in an approved form declaring what goods have been loaded on board the aircraft at the airport at which it has so landed;

(d). a passenger manifest in an approved form containing the names of all passengers carried in the aircraft and their places of embarkation and destination;

(e). a list in duplicate in an approved form of the stores loaded on board the aircraft at the airport at which it has so landed; and the said manifests and list of stores when signed by the said officer, together with the said clearance and authority when countersigned by him, shall, for the purpose of the enactments relating to Customs, be the clearance and authority for the aircraft to proceed from the airport at which it has so landed.

Exportation of Goods

No person shall, without the permission of the proper officer unload from any aircraft any goods loaded therein which have been cleared for exportation.

7. Forced Landings, etc.

(1). If an aircraft flying to or from a place abroad is required or compelled to land for any reason specified in paragraph two of this Schedule at any place in the Kingdom of Tonga other than a Customs airport-

(a). the commander-

(i). shall immediately report the landing to an officer, or to an officer of police and on demand produce to him the journey log book belonging to the aircraft;

(ii). shall not, without the consent of an officer permit any goods or stores to be unloaded from, or any of the crew or passengers to depart from the vicinity of, the aircraft; and

(iii). shall comply with any directions given by an officer with respect to any goods or stores carried in the aircraft; and

(b). no passengers in, or member of the crew of, the aircraft shall, without the consent of an officer or officer of police, leave the immediate vicinity of the airport.

(2). Nothing in this paragraph shall prohibit the departure of crew or passengers from the vicinity of an aircraft or the removal of goods or stores there from where such departure or removal is necessary for reasons of health, safety or the preservation of life.

8. Inspection, Records, etc.

(1). The person in control of every aerodrome shall permit an officer at any time to enter upon and inspect the aerodrome and all buildings and goods thereon.

(2). The person in control of a licensed aerodrome and, if so required by the Controller of Customs, the person in control of any other aerodrome shall keep a record in an approved form of all aircraft arriving at or departing from the aerodrome and shall keep such record available and shall on demand produce it to an officer, together with all other documents kept at the aerodrome which relate to the movement of aircraft, and shall permit an officer to make copies thereof and to take extracts therefrom.

(3). The commander of an aircraft shall permit an officer at any time to board the aircraft and to inspect the aircraft and any goods loaded therein and all documents relating to the aircraft or to goods or persons carried therein, and an officer shall have the right of access at any time to any place to which access is required for the purpose of such inspection.

9 Documents

The Commander of an aircraft shall enter in every document required by this Schedule to be delivered full and true particulars in accordance with the requirements specified in that document.

10 Authorized Agents

Subject to such conditions or requirements as the Controller of Customs may impose, any of the duties imposed on the Commander of an aircraft by subparagraph one (b) and (c) of paragraph three and the proviso to that paragraph by sub-paragraphs two and four of paragraph five, and by paragraph nine of this Schedule may be carried out on his behalf by an authorized agent being a responsible person who represents, and is authorized in that behalf by, the owner or operator of the aircraft; and any of the duties imposed on the person in control of an aerodrome by paragraph eight of this Schedule may be carried out on his behalf by an authorized agent, being a responsible person authorized in writing in that behalf by him.