This story should serve as a warning to all those engaged in selling goods on advertising portals. I ran into a neighbor who is selling some goods through ads; he received a call from the Customs Administration ‘for the collection of information and relevant documentation necessary for the implementation of inspection supervision in the case of monitoring the legality of conducting activities’ at the neighbor’s address.
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He did not want to tell me how much he was fined, he only showed me the call, but not the decision. I do not understand why, but it is clear to me that he stopped me to blame the Customs Administration; they are like this and they are like that. He says to me: ‘You should write about this!’ At first, I did not want to comment at all because I realized he was so angry that it was illusory to explain anything to him, but as the conversation progressed, I slowly began to impose the topic of whether the Customs Administration is really as villainous as he thinks.
– Listen, don’t be angry, but if you are selling goods cheaper than in stores, you are still competing with stores – I said to him.
Heavy Penalties
He laughed heartily at that, not without irony, asking me what kind of competition he is with the little goods he sells through ads. I admitted he was right, although I do not really know what quantity of goods we are talking about, but it is obvious that the Customs called him because he was advertising continuously. Nevertheless, he allowed me to write down the call on paper so I could check the regulation the Customs Administration refers to.
Through ads, he was selling goods obtained abroad, but suddenly he received a call from the Customs Administration to comment on it. He received a fine, so this should serve as a warning to all smugglers that customs regulations allow access to data of those who advertise sales.
Reading the regulation, it is clear that the Customs Administration (i.e., its regional office) has the right because Article 5, paragraph 1, subparagraph 3 of the Law on the Prohibition and Prevention of Unregistered Activities (NN 61/11) states that conducting unregistered activities is also considered ‘when a natural person conducts an activity that has not been registered with the competent authority or reported to the tax authorities.’
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In addition, there is an offense (Article 10, paragraph 3) which states that a natural person will be fined between ten to thirty thousand kuna for conducting undeclared activities to tax authorities (this is related to Article 5), and in addition, a natural person will be fined an additional five to ten thousand kuna if they ‘publish, offer, or advertise the conduct of activities’ (paragraph 8) and as a protective measure, ‘the item intended or used for committing the offense or resulting from committing the offense will be compulsorily confiscated. In addition to the protective measure of confiscation of the item, the property benefit obtained from the offense will also be confiscated.’
Established Guilt
If all of this has been applied to my neighbor, and it is very possible that it has, given the strong outbursts of anger and the words he used to describe the customs officers, then the neighbor has suffered enormous damage. Of course, he also took the opportunity to complain that for years Todorić and much bigger figures have not had tax inspectors knock on their doors, and I assume, dear readers, that there will be some among you who will say: ‘Why are they bothering the man, he earns his bread, let them catch the big fish.’
I do not think so. First of all, it is true that my neighbor is not much of a competition to stores, but thousands of such neighbors certainly are. Secondly, it is true that Todorić and other bigger fish have not had tax inspectors knock on their doors for years (or they have, but pro forma, finding nothing), but that does not mean we should support the thesis that smugglers should also be overlooked. I have studied the mentioned law in detail and there is no doubt that my neighbor is in the wrong.
And finally, in Article 7, paragraph 4, it states: ‘Advertising organizations are obliged to provide the bodies referred to in Article 8 of this Law with data about the advertiser upon their request.’ This is how customs officers obtain data about smugglers, which should serve as a warning to them since the Customs Administration has clearly decided to monitor the sale of goods and services in this way.
POST SCRIPTUM Smuggling goods can be lucrative. My friend Miro regularly went to the Italian town of Monfalcone in the 90s, specifically to the local Mercatone before that store opened in Zagreb. He sold exercise equipment, mobile phones, and I was amazed at how easily he passed through customs. He would bring some customs officers a mobile phone… Once when I went with him, I bought two mobile phones, one for myself and one for a person I liked at the time. Incredible but true, Miro paid nothing, and they only charged me customs for one mobile phone. The next time I decided to go with him just for a trip; on the way back, Miro again made up a story about buying goods for himself, and I paid a fine in Slovenia because I was not wearing a seatbelt.
