Border Agency - Code of Conduct

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oldvarnish

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I wonder if anyone has discovered a simply written outline of the UKBA's authority and code of practice in particular relation to boarding yachts?

Not that I have any cause for complaint, but it might be useful to know.

I had a trawl through their website but gave up after quarter of an hour. Too dense.
 
oldvarnish said:
I wonder if anyone has discovered a simply written outline of the UKBA's authority and code of practice in particular relation to boarding yachts?

Not that I have any cause for complaint, but it might be useful to know.

I had a trawl through their website but gave up after quarter of an hour. Too dense.
Click to expand...

Probably dense for a very good reason. They can do what they want, where they want and how they want if they have reason to suspect..............
 
oldvarnish said:
I wonder if anyone has discovered a simply written outline of the UKBA's authority and code of practice in particular relation to boarding yachts?

Not that I have any cause for complaint, but it might be useful to know.

I had a trawl through their website but gave up after quarter of an hour. Too dense.
Click to expand...

The now call themselves the Border Force. Perhaps they think they are to be reckoned with !

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/policyandlaw/guidance/border-force-manual/

also see here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_Force




.
 
Last edited:
oldvarnish said:
I wonder if anyone has discovered a simply written outline of the UKBA's authority and code of practice in particular relation to boarding yachts?

Not that I have any cause for complaint, but it might be useful to know.

I had a trawl through their website but gave up after quarter of an hour. Too dense.
Click to expand...

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/boarding_of_british_registered_s?unfold=1#incoming-54140

If you can bothered there is an embedded document which gives their powers and reasons for boarding.

I have no axe to grind with the guys, I've been boarded several itmes and at all times have found the mboth good seamen and courteous in their manner, other have diiferent views I know but they don't match with my experiences.
 
I can be bothered,;)


Dear Mr Lamont

Thank you for your e-mail dated 4th October. This falls to be dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

You ask about the legal basis for UKBA customs officials to board craft in UK waters and ask questions. By way of background, Part 1 of the Borders Citizenship and Immigration Act (BCIA) 2009 provides a legislative framework for immigration officers and officials of the Secretary of State to exercise revenue and customs functions which to date have been exercised by HM Revenue & Customs. In practice, officials of the UK Border Agency (UKBA), which is an Executive Agency of the Home Office, exercise these functions on behalf of the Secretary of State and the Director of Border Revenue respectively.

All members of the cutter crews have been designated as a general customs official and a customs revenue official under the BCIA in order to carry out their daily duties. Part 1 of the BCIA further provides that so far as is appropriate, references to an officer of Revenue and Customs, or to HMRC, in an enactment, instrument or document which includes the legislation mentioned below, are to be construed as including a reference to a general customs official and or customs revenue official.

Officials of the UKBA exercising their customs and revenue functions (such as the prevention of drugs and cigarette smuggling at sea) therefore have the power under s.27 of the Customs & Excise Management Act (CEMA) 1979 to board a ship which, at the relevant time, is within the limits of a port (i.e. around the UK's Territorial seas). Once on board, the customs officials may remain therein and rummage and search any part of the boarded ship. UKBA customs officials also have the power to stop and search a vessel within the UK's Territorial seas and internal waters under s.163 of CEMA where there are reasonable grounds to suspect it is or may be carrying goods which are chargeable with any duty which has not been paid or secured; or in the course of being unlawfully removed from or to any place; or otherwise liable to forfeiture under the customs and excise Acts.

You will appreciate that there is no way the UKBA Cutter crew can tell where a vessels is from without asking certain questions, and even having established that the vessel has not arrived from foreign there may still be a need for further questioning to establish whether the vessel is registered, whether it is VAT-paid, reported stolen and so on.

However, I can advise you that there is no legal requirement for a British yachting crew to carry formal identification on board their yacht provided they remain within the UK's territorial seas and internal waters. Once on board the vessel, the customs officials may ask the members of the crew to provide ID documentation but they have no power to require the production of it.

The UKBA Cutter crews are highly trained and professional officers who value the support and assistance of the law-abiding yachting community as they work to protect the UK from smuggling and other crime.

If you are dissatisfied with this response, you may request an independent internal review of our handling of your request. *Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of UKBA sending a substantive reply to your original request and should be addressed *to:

UK Border Agency
Central Freedom of Information Team
11th Floor
Lunar House, Short Corridor
40 Wellesley Road
Croydon
CR9 2BY

During the independent review the department’s handling of your information request will be reassessed by staff who were not involved in providing you with this response. Should you remain dissatisfied after this internal review, you will have a right of complaint to the Information Commissioner as established by section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act.


Yours sincerely


Mark Curtis
 
There was some references on TV news today about the "now defunct UK Border Agency"
Did I miss that announcement or has the Government really shut it down and not told anyone?
 
DanTribe said:
There was some references on TV news today about the "now defunct UK Border Agency"
Did I miss that announcement or has the Government really shut it down and not told anyone?
Click to expand...

Defunct means "no more" because Theresa May split the UKBA into two separate sections, Immigration and Visa section and the other section, Enforcement.



Buoyancy is inversely proportional to cost.
 
I don't know about the Border chaps but Customs have always been a law unto themselves! Southampton were always the worst, worse than the Saudi Religious Police when it came to a bottle of Port or a few ciggies in your bag.
 
cryan said:
I don't know about the Border chaps but Customs have always been a law unto themselves! Southampton were always the worst, worse than the Saudi Religious Police when it came to a bottle of Port or a few ciggies in your bag.
Click to expand...

Stonings on the quay were there?
 
Se got borded just outside Ramsgate..
We had crosssed the Foulness sands and the Barrow and Edinburgh Chanel and were in full sight of the Customs cutter from when they left the Medway..

They still seemed to think we were up to no good.. Bleeding waste of time and money ..
 
boarded

Tomahawk said:
Se got borded just outside Ramsgate..
We had crosssed the Foulness sands and the Barrow and Edinburgh Chanel and were in full sight of the Customs cutter from when they left the Medway..

They still seemed to think we were up to no good.. Bleeding waste of time and money ..
Click to expand...


Chris

Likewise - we were followed from Fowey to falmouth - transmitting on AIS all the way , then got boarded as we passed the commercial docks in Falmouth! - Then a week later in Port Pendennis marina we were boarded again, showed them the log and paperwork (again) - then checked for a third time whilst at anchor at Kiln Quay - so twenty plus years of playing on boats (many 40 knots plus) never been boarded - then 3 times in a month in Falmouth, so my tip to drug smugglers and illegal imigrants is not to head for Falmouth.

Now into Brittany we were boarded twice in Brest - maybe they are bored? - Always polite etc - but good value for money ?
 
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