Traveller declares biosecurity products to customs, shows them honey and gets a fine

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#255522 15-Aug-2019 22:04

I think that is quite ridiculous. She declared and them shows them the stuff! Story below.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/115015520/traveler-ticked-box-on-arrival-card-still-fined-for-not-declaring-honey

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#2300065 15-Aug-2019 22:11

Oldest trick in the book. Remember to always tick all the boxes on your customs declaration.

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#2300071 15-Aug-2019 22:31

marpada:

Oldest trick in the book. Remember to always tick all the boxes on your customs declaration.

she ticked, then told them she had stuff, showed them everything she had, and got given a fine

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#2300075 15-Aug-2019 22:42

Maybe she did, I wasn't there and the story is very light on the details from the other side. Just saying that if you want to sneak something in tick all the boxes and if they catch just say 'But I declared it on the form!'.

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#2300076 15-Aug-2019 22:50

She did tick all the boxes and posted a pic of her declaration form

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#2300078 15-Aug-2019 22:55

So ticking all the boxes is the Get out of Jail card, that's why every traveller should do it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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#2300081 15-Aug-2019 23:45

Maybe it could be the form of questioning. If the product that she had contained honey as an ingredient that is not the same as a jar of honey. She apparently declared the herbal remedy and produced it but MPI expected her to have already declared the honey in it.

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#2300143 16-Aug-2019 06:39

Seems very much like a she said, he said article. Having been though customs literally hundreds of times and declaring food much of the time I actually side with customs on this based on the information in that story.

Ticking your form is simply telling the officer you have one of more of those items. It's then up to you to tell them what they are, and what they contain. She did fail to declare she had honey.

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#2300150 16-Aug-2019 07:31

sbiddle:

Seems very much like a she said, he said article. Having been though customs literally hundreds of times and declaring food much of the time I actually side with customs on this based on the information in that story.

They're not infallible, though. I went to Turkey earlier this year with three colleagues. On the last day, me and one of the other colleagues bought some Turkish tea. This particular tea was a mix of fruits and berries. I'm not a tea drinker, but my daughter loves herbal teas and the sample I tried was delicious so I bought some for her. I knew there was a risk it wouldn't be allowed in after all but that was OK. I only spent about $10 on it so it was a risk I was prepared to take.

On arrival in Auckland I declared it and the officer examined it. He pointed at a bit and asked what it was. I said I believed it was orange peel. He said that orange peel was a biosecurity risk and they would have to confiscate it. Oh well, no harm done; as I said I knew that was a potential outcome.

Texted my colleagues my sad tale of woe only to find out that my other colleague with the same tea declared it and was allowed to bring it in with no problems at all. What happened here? Did the officer I dealt with cost my daughter a lovely treat? Did the other one miss a vital biosecurity risk to NZ? I don't know. But one of them was wrong.

So personally I'm going to side with the traveller on this one - she clearly marked all the right boxes on the card; she was not trying to hide anything. Customs have responsibility here too.

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#2300153 16-Aug-2019 07:45

SaltyNZ:

They're not infallible, though..

On arrival in Auckland I declared it and the officer examined it. He pointed at a bit and asked what it was. I said I believed it was orange peel. He said that orange peel was a biosecurity risk and they would have to confiscate it. Oh well, no harm done; as I said I knew that was a potential outcome.

Texted my colleagues my sad tale of woe only to find out that my other colleague with the same tea declared it and was allowed to bring it in with no problems at all. What happened here? Did the officer I dealt with cost my daughter a lovely treat? Did the other one miss a vital biosecurity risk to NZ? I don't know. But one of them was wrong.

..

As you say they're not infallible. They're human beings on the end doing a job who have to make judgement calls.

SaltyNZ:

...

So personally I'm going to side with the traveller on this one - she clearly marked all the right boxes on the card; she was not trying to hide anything. Customs have responsibility here too.

Call me a cynic, but the way I interpret the story I'd speculate that the woman involved did declare food on the form but tried to hide that it included honey, and the media is jumping on the opportunity to have a dig at a government agency.

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#2300175 16-Aug-2019 08:47

Why assume it was in a food item? Honey could be an ingredient in a lot of things you wouldn't stick on your toast. If the question was anything with honey in it she may have responded differently. I suppose it depends on whether she brought the herbal remedy to MPI's attention or not.

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#2300180 16-Aug-2019 08:59

Bung: Why assume it was in a food item? Honey could be an ingredient in a lot of things you wouldn't stick on your toast. If the question was anything with honey in it she may have responded differently. I suppose it depends on whether she brought the herbal remedy to MPI's attention or not.

If you're referring to my post above, I was generalising. The form has checkboxes for food and for animal products and explicitly mentions honey. Fact is she wanted to bring honey in which is a no-no. Its purpose is irrelevant, the speculative discussion here is on whether the fine she received was justified or not. I suspect none of us will ever know the full story of what went on.

Sometimes I use big words I don't always fully understand in an effort to make myself sound more photosynthesis.

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#2300183 16-Aug-2019 09:16

i thought if I declare all the cases on the form that deems appropriate then it is up to MPI to tell what is good to go and what is not. i thought thats their job?

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#2300185 16-Aug-2019 09:25

Purely based on that Stuff article, it stated:
However, she opened her luggage and showed the next officer the contents of her herbal medicine, which contained the honey.

From this it appears she wasn't trying to hide the honey. She ticked the box in the section for honey and willingly showed them what she had. MPI didn't find it as a result of a search of her bags, so maybe a warning should have been given if they wanted to be that pedantic.

I think the fine is unjustified.

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#2300186 16-Aug-2019 09:26

iamsammajor:

i thought if I declare all the cases on the form that deems appropriate then it is up to MPI to tell what is good to go and what is not. i thought thats their job?

Surely the form is just part of the the vetting process. I would think the next part is where the MPI agent asks what food items and animal products the passenger is carrying. It is then up to the passenger to list all the items they're bringing in. Ignorance is no excuse. if they 'forget' to declare one item they have with them, and it is later found in their luggage to be a prohibited item, they deserve to be fined in my opinion. If the passenger is not sure they should respond to that question along the lines of "I can't remember it all, why don't you take a look in my bags and tell me what is and isn't allowed."

Sometimes I use big words I don't always fully understand in an effort to make myself sound more photosynthesis.

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#2300187 16-Aug-2019 09:29

kiwiharry: Purely based on that Stuff article, it stated:
However, she opened her luggage and showed the next officer the contents of her herbal medicine, which contained the honey.

From this it appears she wasn't trying to hide the honey. She ticked the box in the section for honey and willingly showed them what she had. MPI didn't find it as a result of a search of her bags, so maybe a warning should have been given if they wanted to be that pedantic.

I think the fine is unjustified.

But earlier in the article we are told

"for not declaring a jar of honey,"

Herbal medicines don't contain jars of honey ....

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