XII Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2020

Customs crimes and misconduct are illegal actions that negatively affect the economies of countries and their economic interests, as well as the population living on its territory.

Smuggling - the illegal movement of goods or other items across the customs border, for which special rules are established for moving across the customs border of Russia. It is recognized as a crime if this act was committed with concealment from customs control or with fraudulent use of documents or means of customs identification, or without a declaration or fake declaration

At the present stage of development of the Russian state, the fight against smuggling comes to the fore. For several years, Russia talked about smuggling and combating it, but today we can say that the situation has gained new proportions. Smuggling and its consequences permeate all areas of public life. The specificity of smuggling is expressed in its close connection with other offenses. This infringes on the financial, commercial, cultural and other interests of society, to a certain extent creates a threat to the state.

Economic consequences: first of all, smuggling is an evasion of customs duties and payments that directly replenish the federal state budget, therefore, the more smuggling, the greater the loss of the state budget. With large sums of money, smugglers unite in organized criminal communities with a powerful resource and intellectual base. Such situations are not uncommon, for example, we can recall the “three whales” case, the basis of which is the smuggling of Italian furniture by Liga Mars. Estimates of the amount of lost customs payments range from 550 thousand rubles, according to the prosecutor's office, according to the customs committee to $ 8 million. Smuggling was carried out by underestimating the weight, as a result of which the cost of goods fell by 3–7 times.

The goal of customs officers is not only to replenish the state budget, but also to protect the national producer by maintaining high prices on the domestic market for imported goods in order to provide them with cheap raw materials and protect the market from the poor and fake products. Smuggling can eliminate the state of fair competition in the market, in this situation it is important that market entities receiving goods with lower costs (which are formed due to non-payment of customs duties, taxes and fees) are in a better position in relation to other market participants. Thus, smuggling companies are more competitive. Criminal business suppresses competitors and monopolizes the market.

Social consequences. A state that restricts or prohibits the import of certain goods has the goal of protecting health of nation and ensuring public safety, including environmental safety.

One of the most common smuggled goods is drugs. Russia accounts for one fifth of the most serious drug trafficking in the world - heroin.

Also, as a result of smuggling, a huge number of weapons, military equipment, etc. is imported. Most of these goods fall into the hands of terrorist organizations, which subsequently use them to intimidate civilians. The economic consequences of smuggling are closely related to social damage, since the lack of significant amounts of money in the state budget creates tension in its costs. The state’s lack of financial resources can freeze salary payments for civil servants, military and other categories of “civil servants”, which prevents the increase of pensions and social benefits.

Despite all the disadvantages, smuggling has its advantages. It should be noted that smuggled goods are cheaper than legal goods, which is undoubtedly beneficial for consumers. Smugglers often satisfy the increased demand of the population for any goods of foreign origin in conditions when official interstate relations are broken or are in a “frozen” state.

Despite a small positive impact, smuggling causes enormous damage to the national economy and the country's security; smuggling prevents the replenishment of the state budget of the country, which, in turn, contributes to the list of problems associated with the state budget deficit. and this also introduces a certain imbalance in the domestic markets of the country, since it eliminates the state of fair competition in the market, smuggled goods can harm the environment and health.