Is customs business a good profession? Responsibilities and benefits of working as a customs officer

The article talks about what customs is, why such a state control body was created and what its responsibilities are.

Law

With the advent of a more or less developed and civilized society, the need arose for various bodies of supervision and control - the army (or its likeness during the times of the communal system), law enforcement forces, etc. This became especially relevant as a single centralized state became established and strengthened. And one of such government bodies is customs. So what is customs and what functions does it perform?

Purpose

Customs is a state body that carries out the procedure for moving goods, things, transport and generally any other material assets, including animals and antiquities, across the so-called customs border of the state. So now we know what customs is. The point of its control is to collect customs duties in the form of a monetary equivalent or the goods themselves (in ancient times), to monitor exactly what goods they are trying to export outside the country, and, if necessary, to stop their transportation.

Current state of affairs

Currently, in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation, Russian customs is collecting duties. It, in turn, is formalized by filling out special forms (written, electronic, oral), if the citizen has things that are subject to mandatory declaration.

Along with taxes that come to the budget from the internal turnover of the country's economy, customs duties are one of the main types of budget income. For example, in August 2011 alone, the amount of customs duties that went to the state budget amounted to 529 billion rubles. And for the entire 2011, this amount is equal to 4329.88 billion rubles.

The customs authorities themselves are part of the Federal Customs Service of Russia, which exercises the functions of control, supervision and management of all other areas of customs affairs. But since 2016, in accordance with the decree of the President of the Russian Federation, the Federal Customs Service was transferred to the subordination of the Ministry of Economic Development.

Conflicts

In 2014, an event occurred due to which most logistics companies in the world stopped delivering goods ordered via the Internet to Russia. The reason for this was the establishment of a tax of 10% of the cost on all goods ordered in foreign stores.

Due to the fact that each country has its own laws, before traveling to another country it is worth familiarizing yourself with its customs regulations. So now we know what customs is and what functions it performs.

A customs officer is a civil servant who monitors the movement of people, vehicles, and cargo across the customs border.

Wage

25,000–45,000 rub. (rabota.yandex.ru)

Place of work

Customs, brokerage companies.

Responsibilities

The main responsibilities of a customs officer include:

inspection of persons crossing the border, verification of documents;
cargo inspection, documentation preparation;
detection of contraband or goods prohibited for import and export;
crime investigation.

Important qualities

The following qualities are important in the work of a customs officer: resistance to stress, excellent memory, quick reaction, developed intuition, responsibility, diligence, stress resistance, diplomacy.

Reviews about the profession

“The profession of a customs officer is quite complex and multifaceted. The main task of customs officers is to ensure economic state security and create conditions for the successful development of the state’s economy. They serve as a reliable barrier for offenders, including smugglers transporting drugs, weapons, currency and various cultural values. The fight against cunning and resourceful violators requires enormous skills and experience from customs officers.”

Russian customs officer

Stereotypes, humor

Despite the increased responsibility associated with maintaining border security, the profession has many advantages: customs officers are entitled to various benefits from the state. In the life of specialists, suspiciousness, attention to detail, and intuition are typical.

Education

Not all customs officers have specialized education; often these can be lawyers, economists and representatives of other specialties. It is permissible to study to become a customs officer at specialized courses. However, the most valued are specialists who graduated from a university with a degree in Customs Affairs (St. Petersburg branch of the Russian Customs Academy named after V.B. Bobkov).

Economic universities in Moscow: MNEPU Academy, Institute of International Economic Relations, Moscow Financial and Legal University MFLA.

Today, in a period of total globalization and close economic cooperation between countries, the profession of a customs officer is becoming especially popular. Customs first appeared when it became necessary to control the borders of countries when goods crossed. On the territory of the European part of Russia, customs as such appeared in the 17th century. Each major city had its own customs office, which was subordinate to the head. Workers were recruited from local residents. Modern positions, such as inspector and controller, appeared in the 18th century on the initiative of Peter I. Let's take a closer look at customs and what kind of profession it is.

Customs - what kind of profession is it?

The main function of customs is to ensure the economic security of the country. The service acts as a kind of buffer to prevent the import of contraband and other illegal goods into the territory of the state.

All areas of activity are very important, but the most difficult thing to combat is the smuggling of drugs, historical values, and weapons. Although employees have known most of the loopholes for a long time and are actively working on them, criminals never tire of coming up with more sophisticated methods of crossing the border.

The profession of a customs officer requires the ability to use various types of technical means to identify illegal items. Basically, their action comes down to introscopy, which is used to inspect large cargo (cars, trailers, containers).

In addition to direct control of the passage of goods at the border, customs officers carry out investigations, keep records of confiscated goods, and engage in analytical activities. Programmers, economists and lawyers also work here.

To work successfully, an employee must have an excellent understanding of human psychology. Suspicious behavior, unnatural nervousness, reaction to provocative questions - all this should be monitored by a customs officer. The work is a public service and involves strict rules.

The following qualities of a customs officer are distinguished:

concentration and stability;
excellent memory;
ability to make quick decisions in difficult situations;
observation;
developed intuition.

Customs officers make a huge contribution to the protection of the state and national interests. Terrorists with weapons, drugs, smuggling - all this could fall on civilized states.

The size of wages by regions of Russia is presented in the diagram.

Do not miss:

Pros and cons of the customs officer profession

Advantages:

preserving national and economic security;
an interesting and rewarding profession;
the experience gained in the field of foreign economic activity can be used in commerce upon completion of service;

Flaws:

low wages in government agencies;
sometimes working in uncomfortable conditions.

Where to study to be a customs officer

You can master a profession in the following educational institutions:

Russian Customs Academy;
Moscow University named after S.Yu. Witte;
Russian New University;
Omsk State Technical University;
Perm State University.

Customs business (Wikipedia) is a set of means and methods of compliance with measures for customs tariff regulation and the introduction of restrictions and prohibitions that may be associated with the movement of vehicles and goods across the state border.

According to the Wikipedia portal, the term “customs business” includes a wide range of legal and financial issues. All these issues, to one degree or another, relate to foreign economic activity. First of all, this applies to the provision by government bodies quality regulation foreign trade interactions. All these processes are carried out by establishing tariff barriers and various non-tariff restrictions.

The purpose of these measures is primarily to limit the supply of any product to the domestic market of the state. Thus, the customs policy of any country most often acts as a tool for establishing foreign policy and foreign trade relations.

Another aspect of the activities of the described structures is legal. In modern Russia, a narrow branch of administrative law has formed, which is called customs law. This category includes all types of legal relationships that arise between the state and all participants in foreign trade activities. The main regulatory document that regulates this type of activity is the Customs Code of the Customs Union.

Customs is a government body whose main function is to control the movement of material assets, vehicles, people and animals. Other functions include collection of required duties, application of certain customs procedures, and preparation of relevant documentation.

Customs officer

An employee of the state customs service is not the most difficult, it does not require exceptional abilities from a person. Customs officers rarely work physically.

The main responsibilities of a customs officer are:

Investigation of existing cases of violations of customs law.
Preparation of relevant customs documentation.
Work at checkpoints.
Inspection at airports, train stations or at customs points of personal belongings of citizens or transported cargo.
Accounting and control of confiscated property.
Identification of goods included in the list of prohibited import and export.
Identification of facts of smuggling.
Prevention of offenses in the field of customs law.

In my professional activities customs officer checks accompanying documentation attached to the goods and prepares declarations. In addition, his responsibility is to determine the country of import and export and calculate the amount of duties.

Since the range of duties of a customs officer is quite wide, within this specialty there are several narrow divisions that depend on the specific place of activity of the specialist:

Checkpoint officer.
Passport control officer. Most often girls work here.
International Customs Officer.

Customs inspection points may be located at airports, railway stations or seaports.

Required Personal Qualities

The work of a customs officer is always associated with some risks and imposes certain requirements on the representative from a psychological point of view and personal qualities. Due to the specific nature of the activity and the large number of temptations, a fairly high level of honesty, integrity and patriotism will be required. In addition, the mandatory personal qualities of a customs officer must be:

Sometimes it is quite difficult to determine visually whether a person is carrying prohibited cargo, and very often comes to the rescue well developed intuition. An experienced customs officer can get ahead of this by some signs known to him. A good knowledge of psychology and your own “sixth sense” can help with this.

In addition, you will need a thorough knowledge of all regulatory documents and the legislative framework, rules for maintaining documentation, and mastery of a certain speech style. Thus, everything who is interested in the question- Is it worth going to study in the field of customs affairs? We must develop the necessary personality qualities and psychological skills.

Advantages of the profession

If you ask any customs officer about the merits of his profession, first of all he will begin to talk about colossal social significance. Exactly these people, who guard the economic security of the state, prevent terrorists from crossing the border and smuggling contraband.

One of the undoubted advantages of this profession is its high demand. The customs service is constantly expanding due to an increase in international trade contacts and an increase in the number of citizens who cross the borders of our country.
Customs officers have certain benefits - early retirement and a good financial increase in pension. Benefits for employees who worked at checkpoints and identified goods prohibited from import are equal to benefits for regular military personnel.
Under the influence of the specifics of their activities, such employees develop excellent analytical abilities, attention and observation, memory and intuition over time. All these qualities can be very useful not only in this narrow specialization, but also later in life.
In the process of working at customs, an employee acquires such a volume of skills and knowledge in law and economics that will allow him to apply for a worthy leadership position in a large company or enterprise.

Negative aspects of the profession

Like any profession, customs has not only obvious advantages, but also a number of disadvantages:

Thus, a long stay in such service can cause neuroses and prolonged depression. Therefore, it is very important to understand whether you are ready to work in this field.

Where is this profession taught?

To become a customs officer, it is not necessary to have a specialized education in this field. However higher education in any case, is an integral requirement for the applicant. Additional knowledge and skills can be obtained by taking specialized courses.

And yet, you can get this profession in specialized universities. Such specialists are valued much higher in a professional environment. The higher the qualifications of an employee, the greater his chances of good career growth. Get such a specialty possible in leading Russian universities. One of the best universities that graduates specialists in the “customs business” profile is SFU (Siberian Federal University).

tamozenniza
Evgeniya (name changed)

Last year, after more than four years of service in customs, I left. Tired of it. My education is higher in economics, not RTA. In Pskov, work is generally so-so, but the opinion that working in customs is great still exists to this day. I applied for the vacancy of a senior customs inspector and turned out to be the most “lucky”: it was very difficult to take people off the “street” at that time; a girl who was already on her sixth attempt tried to get into customs with me. That time they took her.

21 days are allotted for accepting documents, I submitted them by the end of this period - I graduated from the university, and the diploma was about to be issued. In June I submitted documents, and in August they signed a contract with me. The main thing is that the education is higher, not necessarily received at the RTA. In general, when submitting documents you need so many certificates! When I saw this list... Well, it's crazy.

After receiving the documents, the stages of the competition begin. At the same time, an inspection is carried out by the internal customs security service.

The first stage is a psychologist. You take a huge test, it contains about 600 questions on your knowledge of the Russian language, but more on your general psychological portrait. A scale is drawn up based on the test, and something becomes clear from it: which qualities are clearly expressed in a person, and which are less so. Psychologically suitable candidates are selected.

For example, customs does not need a person with leadership qualities for the position of customs inspector.

Then a day is set for another stage. What should jump off your teeth is the Customs Code, 311 Federal Laws, 273 Federal Laws - mandatory for combating corruption, another 79 Federal Laws. In fact, there is a lot to learn, a lot.

Everyone is taken into a large hall and given a basic test of about 20 questions. You write, you submit, you leave. And then the call of a person to the commission begins one by one. There are about 9-12 members. You come in, introduce yourself, and they ask you questions about your knowledge of the law. Results appear in a week or two. A letter arrives telling you whether you passed the competition or not. If you pass, they sign a contract with you.

The probationary period lasts three months, after which you are a full-time employee - you are given your first shoulder straps and stars.

Nowadays, many people are leaving their jobs and vacancies are appearing. I don’t know how it is for those who work in the office 5 through 2, but it’s very difficult at the post. The workload is crazy – both physically and psychologically. When we worked for days, no matter what, you muster your will, you bomb for a day and you’re home for three days. And then when they made a day/night/bedtime/weekend schedule, we stopped seeing life altogether.

We had at least 3-4 people at our post who graduated from RTA. The last girl who got there after graduating from the academy went through a competition - the placement has already been cancelled.

Neither the salaries nor anything else differs between those who were assigned to customs and those who came from outside.

RTA graduates, I won’t say that they were disappointed, but they were surprised: they spent so many years on specialized education, but do not have any privileges compared to others who received non-core education, like me.

For the first 1.5 years I really liked my job - the uniform, and this: “Where do you work?”, and you so proudly: “At customs.” Then the rose-colored glasses fell off.

What is the average salary in customs? The minimum I saw was 35 thousand. So the salary of an ordinary inspector throughout Russia is 17 thousand something. This is pure, i.e. about 20 thousand minus income tax. Plus there are quarterly bonuses and savings at the end of the year. This is the money I need to live on, I’m no longer a student, my parents won’t help me.

And so I had practically no time, hard work, disproportionate salary. It took me a very long time to gather the courage to leave. This is a system, it sucks you in a lot, and when you quit, your co-workers look at you like you’re crazy: “How?!”

I hoped that something would change, but everything only got worse: less money, more work. Legislation is changing. They require us to work faster, but at the same time they complicate the design. That is, innovations are irrational, in my opinion. A strong trend of reprimands has emerged: if you are reprimanded, you lose your bonus. And if earlier reprimands were issued for really serious things, then over time they began to be imposed even for an incorrectly entered letter from the passport, although this error does not affect anything: you will still compare the passport data with the database, and you will understand what was meant not the Russian “B”, but the Latin “B”.

Recently, many at the Pskov customs did not receive a bonus due to criticism. And if previously they were removed at least before the bonus was issued and did not deprive people of money, now this trend has practically been reduced to zero. So an inspector can work for a year without a bonus, on a bare salary of 17 thousand rubles.

liso1
Oleg (name changed)

I graduated from RTA in 2015. Twice I tried to get a job at the Baltic Customs - I got to the point of competition, but both were unsuccessful. They say that it is much easier to get to the Pulkovo customs office than to the Baltic one.

The distribution was removed in 2014, and even those who studied at the target (when the state pays for your education with the condition that you go to the place offered to you later - editor's note) did not get into the service. In my group, three studied on a paid basis, including me, three studied on a budget, and another 7 studied on a target basis. As a result, none of us work in customs.

Without work experience, you can apply for either the position of state customs inspector or the position of senior state customs inspector. The salary is somewhere around 19-25 thousand rubles, not counting bonuses and the 13th salary.

When they announce a competition to fill a vacant position, you first submit documents, then go through a psychologist. And then you wait almost six months until the next stage begins - an interview with a test. I don’t know why it’s taking so long – they’re checking the documents or what.

The further test is simple - they check knowledge of the Constitution, the Russian language, and level of PC proficiency. By the way, for some reason they wrote on pieces of paper, although they should have been on the computer. During the interview itself, questions were asked about the Constitution and federal laws important to the service. And of course, about why you want to serve in the customs authorities.

In one case, a couple of weeks before the competition, I learned from friends that the successful candidate for the position I was applying for had already been identified.

This person ultimately received the contract.

It happens that information about the competition is not posted on the website, and two people take part in it - formally this is enough. One of them already works in customs - he is brought in for the numbers. Both write the test, but the one who is already working refuses the interview, and the only applicant wins the competition.

The main problem is that there are very few competitions themselves. Every year RTA graduates about 500 people, and about 50 vacancies appear per year for those who have no experience. So consider how realistic it is to get a job in customs and whether it is worth getting a specialized education. I paid 400 thousand rubles for my studies, but I could have gone to the physics department, on the budget.

The main motivation for most of those who applied to me was placement, but it was canceled six months before our graduation. Plus, of course, a guarantee of stability: after all, this is a government agency, and it will not close.

liso
Denis (name changed)

I graduated from RTA in 2015. Of course, he was no longer included in the distribution. I received my diploma and wondered how I could get a job in the customs service of the Russian Federation. I began to make inquiries about this and found out that in any case I needed an army - a military ID with a note of unfitness or service. The second thing that was negative was the salary. The salary of a first-class specialist in the civil government service where I wanted - the legal department of the Baltic Customs - was 16 thousand rubles. The Baltic customs then, and even now, was going through hard times. And everyone I talked to about this topic said: “You shouldn’t go here.” I didn’t get to the competition because I stopped at the stage of submitting documents: army and salary.

When I entered the RTA, there was no requirement for the army. But then the legislation regarding military service began to change, people began to be drafted into the army directly from their workplaces.

I found out about the law enforcement unit of the customs - I wanted to try to go to the shoulder straps, but, firstly, there were not a single vacancy (just like now), and secondly, in an informal conversation, an acquaintance said that you “just can’t get there” - either due to great acquaintance, or due to great merit, let’s say. After that I gave up trying to get a job in customs.

Through an acquaintance, I was offered a job at customs in another region of Russia, but I refused because it was not the capital. Well, the salary, of course, the salary.

None of my classmates, as far as I know, work in customs authorities.

I work in the customs area and I can say that the education of the academy gave me a lot of useful things. At least I learned how to communicate with government agencies. Let's say in my first year I was afraid of, say, any patrol policeman. And now at work I have to communicate with both majors and colonels. They are not such terrible people. I learned the art of negotiations - the teachers at the academy worked in government agencies one way or another, and agreeing with them about an exam was much more difficult than persuading any official to take some action.

It turns out that living freely is much more profitable than being in the service. In addition, the civil service is very burdensome - you cannot have large property (and I would like to in the future), a serious business, it is very difficult to confirm your income and, even more so, expenses. I watch my parents, who are also in the civil service, but of a different kind - for them it is constantly hysterical.

Is it difficult to get a job in the customs authorities? To do this, is it necessary to get an education at the Russian Customs Academy or have the patronage of an uncle in uniform? We spoke to three people, two of whom were RTA graduates, about their attempts to get hired at Customs. Ironically, the girl who received a place in the Pskov customs did not graduate from RTA, and two graduates of the academy were never able to get into the coveted Baltic customs.