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Customs now OK’d to use fines to improve services
A bill that allows the Department of Finance’s Division of Customs to keep all the fines it collects at ports of entry of the Commonwealth became law on Monday. Public Law 19-9 became law after a statutory deadline for acting governor Ralph DLG Torres to act on it expired.
The new law adds a new provision to the Commonwealth Code. The provision, “Collection of fines at the ports of entry,” gives Customs the authority to collect and keep fines imposed on businesses and individuals at the ports of entry for but not limited to training, operations and personnel costs associated with the division’s mission to improve services “and the fight on the ice epidemic in the” CNMI.
“Such funds shall not be subject to reprogramming,” the bill states.
The bill empowers Customs to create rules and regulations to standardize and regulate fees and fines. It also requires Finance to report on the collection and expenditure of fees quarterly to the presiding officers of the Legislature.
“Certain business within the Commonwealth…are being dishonest in their declaration when importing goods to be more profitable and to gain a competitive edge against other businesses in the CNMI,” the bill states. It adds that Customs is tasked with protecting CNMI’s borders and assessing goods and commodities at ports of entry.
Customs, though, is currently relying strictly on manpower to investigate and assess all containers at the seaport and each package at the airports and post offices, the bill notes, and the lack of proper equipment for Customs adds up to man hours, causing overtime payment that business would rather avoid paying, as well as delays in clearance at ports of entry.
Customs director Joe Mafnas said he is thankful to the Legislature for passing the bill and the Inos administration for allowing it to go through to become law.
“Those are fines [that] we are going to use. We will use that for Customs uniforms, so we can have real uniforms from head to toe. [For] training, to hire an expert to train our officers, and for anything that would help us.”
Mafnas said they are working on how to standardize the fines and will be sending this to the Attorney General’s Office for review.
