Sea Customs (Amendment) Act,1959

THE SEA-CUSTOMS (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1959~ [Act No. XIXofl9S9.] (The2lst September1959.) It is hereby enacted llS follows: I . This Act may be called the Sea Customs (Amendment) Act, 1959. 2. In section 3 of the Sea Customs Act, hereinafter referred to as the said Act "(a)for clause (a) the following shall be substituted as clause (a); namely:­ "{a) 'Financial Commissioner' means the Financial Commissioner appointed by the President of the Union under section 2 of the Financial Commissioners Act:"; (b) for the period (. )at the end of clause 0) a colon(:) shall be substituted; and (c) after clause {j) the following sha,l/ be inserted as clause (k), namely:­ "(k) ·shipment' means loading of goods on board a vessel bound for a customs-port or a foreign port." 3. In Section 7 of the said Act,for the expression "Chief Customs.authority any power conferred upon him by section 6 and the Chief Customs-authority may delegat~ to any officer of the Custorm any power so delegated to it" the expression ''Commissiona­ of Customs any power conferred upon him by section 6, and the Commissioner of Customs may delegate to any other officer of Customs any power so delegated to him'' shall be substituted. 4. In section 9 of the said Act, for the words "Chief Customs authority" the words "President of the Union" shall bf! substituted. S. For section IO ofthe said Act, the foDowingsha// be substituted; namely: "IO. The Commissioner of Customs and other officers of Customs \Womhe The Commissioner of Customs and other officers exempted from service on jury or inquest or assessors. deems it necessary to exempt on grounds of public duty shall not be compelled to serve on any jury or inquest or as an assessor." 6. In section 19A of the Said Act,for the words "Chief Customs-authority'' the words "President of the Union" shall be substituted 7. Clause (b) of section 20 of the said Act shall be deleted 8. In section 21 of the said Act/or the word "shall" the word "may" shall be substituted 9. In section 27 of the said Act, after the words ~'coming into" the words "or found in'' shall be inserted 10. In section 42 of the said Act,for the words "Chief Customs-authority'' the words ''President of the Union" shall be substituted 11. Section 44, 45, 46 and 47 of the said Act shall be fi:eleted 12. In section 49 of the said Act (a) for the word "capable" in clause (a) the word ''incapable" shall be substituted; and (b )for the word "identifiable" in the marginal note the word '\mideorifiahle" shall be substituted 13. In section SO of the said Act (a} for the comma(,) at the end of clause (c) a period(.) shall he substituted, and the word '"or" shall be deleted; and (b) clause (d) shall be deleted 14. In section 59, 66 and 76 of the said Act,for the words "ChiefCustoms­ authority" the words ''President of the Union" shall be substituted 15. In section 88 of the said Act,/or the words '1"our months the words ''two months" shall be substituted, the words "and in the Gazette," shall be deleted and/or the words ''the Chief Customs-authority may, with the concurrence of the President of the Union," occunmg in the first proviso the words ''the President of the Union may" shall be substituted 16. The last paragraph of section 96 of the said Act shall be. deleted 17. In section 100 of the said Act,for the words ''Chief Custo~ authority'' the words ''President of the Union" shall be substituted 18. In section 119 of the said Act, the words "duly advertised in. the Gazette" shall be deleted 19. In sections 130 and 133 of the said Act,for the words "ChiefCustoms­ authority" \\herever they occur the words ''President of the Union" shall be substituted. 20. In section 144 of the said Act (a) for the words "Chief Customs - authority" the words "Financial Cnnn:niss:ioner" shall be substituted,· (b)/or the words ''the Chief Customs-authority having amhority at that port" in clause {b) the words ''the Fin.ancial Cnmmissioner" shall be substituted; and ( c) for the words "Commissioner of Customs" in the third paragraph the words •'Customs- collector" shall be s,ibstituted 21 . In sections 14 7, 148 and 151 of the said Act. / or the words .. Chief Customs-authority" wherever they occur the wor~ "Fmancial Commissioner" shall be substituted. 22. In the schedule to section 167 of the said Act, for the words "Chief Customs-authority'', in item 54 the words ''President of the Union'' shall be substituted 23. After section 167 A of the said Act, the following shall be inserted as section 167s, namely: Attempt "167e. For the purposes of item 8 of the schedule to section 167 and section 167A the word "attempt" means any act of concealment keeping or conveying of goods under such circumstances as are sufficient to satisfy the Customs-collector that the goods are being ~oncealed. kept or conveyed with intent to import or export the goods contrary to the prohibition or restriction W1der section 19." 24. After section l 72 of the said Act, the following shall be inserted as section 172A, namely: 1 72A. If the Commissioner of Customs or any Customs-collector in charge of a custmirhouse has reason to believe that dutiable Power of Commissioner of Customs to search. or prohibited goods illegally imported or to be illegally exported are stored or secreted in any building, vessel or place, within his jurisdiction, and that a search warrant under section 172 cannot be obtained without affording the offender an opportunity of escape or of concealing or destroying evidence of the offence, he may authoriu any officer of Customs in writing in such fonn as may be prescnl>ed by the Commissioner of Cu~oms to. or may himself, (a) enter into any such building, vessel or place; (b) in case of resistance, break open any door and remove any other obstacle to :;uch entry; !so (c) seize any goods which he has reason to believe to be liable to confiscation under this Act; (d) detain and search, and, ifhe thinks proper, arrest any person \Wom he has reason to believe be guihy of any offence under this Act; and (e) seize any book, receipt, record or other document or anything which he has reason to believe to be connected with the importation ot: or the attempt to export, the goods seiz.ed or liable to be seized under the provisions of this Act. The written authority for the search shall have the same effect as a search-warrant issued under the Code of Criminal Procedure and all searches wider this section shall be made in accordance with the provisions of the said Code." 25. In section 182 of the said Act,/or the words "Chief Customs-authority" wherever they oc~ur the words ''President of the.Union·• shall be substituted 26. In section 188 of the said Act,for the words "three months from the date of su~b decision or order, appeal therefrom to the Chief Custo~authority. or, in sucli cases as the President of the Union directs, to my officer of Customs not inferior io rank to a Customs-collector and empowered in that behalf by name or in virtue of his office by the President of the Union." the words "one month from the date of such decision or o.-der, appeal therefrom to the Financial Commissioner, or io such cases as the President of the Union directs, to any officer of Customs not inferior io rank to a Customs--co~tor and empowered in that behalf by name or in virtue of his office by the President of the Union. Such officer may, on sufficient cause being shm\11. ex1end the period of appeal from one month to a pe1iod not exceeding three month~.·· shall ht> .w,hstih1tetf and/or the words ·'Such authority or officer " the worcls'·Such officer'' shall be s11bst1l11te<I. Go 27. In section 191 of the said Act,for the words ''Chief.c;ustoms-authority'' . .. . . wherever they occur the words ''Financial Commissioner" shall he substituted, and after the proviso to sub-section (2): thereot: the following shall be inserted as the second proviso thereto, namely: "Provided also that no application under this sub-section ·sh.111 be entertained unless the party concerned his exercised the right of appeal under section 18.8 and complied with the provisions of section 189." 28. Section 19SA of the said Act shall be deleted. 29. In section 202 of the said Act,for the words ''Chief Customs-authority'' the words '"Financial Commissioner" shall be substituted 30. In section 206 of the said Act,for the words "Chief'Customs - authority" the words "President of the Union" shall be substituted Signed by me in pursuance of the Constitution. u WIN MAUNG, President of the Union of Myanmar. . . YANGON, the twenty-first day of September, 1959. By Order, PA SEIN, • President's' Secretary.