Officials from the Customs and Monopolies Agency ADM and military personnel from the provincial command of the Guardia di Finanza GDF carried out several checks at the Esterminal container terminal in Augusta, aimed at verifying compliance with customs regulations on goods from outside the EU according to Shipping Italy
Three seizures in particular have been carried out to date. A first action, according to the note released by Adm and Gdf, involved a box coming from China, destined for an individual company based in the Catania hinterland.
The crime of counterfeiting
The inspection of the container made it possible to identify items of clothing and home decorations that “bore a clearly false CE mark“, as it differed from that regulated by the EU directives, as well as lacking the number of the certifying body. Furthermore, the importer’s representative was unable to produce any documentation attesting to the certification.The inspection therefore led to the seizure of 14,380 items and the reporting of the importer to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Syracuse for the crime of counterfeiting
By delegation of the Judicial Authority
By delegation of the Judicial Authority, the headquarters of the importing company was also searched, where 125,485 products of various kinds were found, such as toys, household and personal items, low voltage electrical material, also with a counterfeit CE mark. If placed on the market, these goods would have generated illicit profits of approximately 350,000 euros.
A second check
A second check concerned a container in which LED lamps were found without the CE mark and the label indicating the importer, in violation of Directive 2014/30/EU.
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The importing company, based in the province of Agrigento, was not registered in the national register of producers and importers of batteries and accumulators nor in the register of producers and importers of electrical appliances, provided for, respectively,by legislative decrees 188/2008 and 49/2014 During the checks, 6,000 items were seized and administrative sanctions ranging from 30,000 to 100,000 euros were imposed on the legal representative.
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A box containing LED12 lamps
During another customs visit, a box containing LED12 lamps, imported under the VAT storage regime, was then checked. The checks established that the products had not actually been placed in the warehouse, as confirmed by subsequent checks carried out at the company that owned the warehouse.
The importer was therefore charged with the crime of smuggling due to false declaration and 12,960 products were seized. The violation was finally extinguished by the person responsible through the full payment of the evaded tax and one fifth of the expected fine, for approximately 30,000 euros.
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