Now I would like to give you an example of .

Last March a consignor, his name is of no importance, wanted to...

Text3

Within the EU 18 million T1 documents are issued annually. Each has an average duty and tax liability of Euro 24,000. Each year Euro 432 billion of taxes and duties are channelled through the T1 system. An incidence of fraud of 0.2% has been calculated by the TIR system, meaning freight forwarders are liable for more than Euro 864 million each year.

The European Commission reckons that the financial impact of organised crime on each member state from 1994 to 1998 was in excess of Euro 75 billion.

The CT regime was designed in the 1960s for six countries with internal borders. Today, transit is organised by freight forwarders acting as intermediaries to a transaction in countries with no internal borders. In addition, customs budgets have been reduced in relative terms and customs authorities have not been able to keep pace with an increasing workload. All this points to the fact that the proliferation of fraud is directly related to the implementation of a frontier free EU.

The present system places the burden of preventing fraud onto the freight forwarders. The prevention of fraud takes expertise and time. Those freight forwarders acting unilaterally to stop the fraud have found that their ability to process the T1 form transactions has slowed down dramatically and the resulting costs, which they pass on to their customers, have increased dramatically too. This has resulted in customers shifting business to freight forwarders who are more trusting and less punctilious.

§ Vocabulary notes

Words and Grammar

a Match the English and Russian equivalents:

b Find the English equivalents in the text:

обязанность платить таможенные пошлины и налоги таможенные пошлины и налоги в сумме (...) направляются в (...)

экспедиторы должны платить (...)

транзит грузов обеспечивается экспедиторами, действующими в качестве посредников по коммерческой сделке таможни не успевают быстро оформлять возрастающие объемы грузов время на оформление форм Т-1 значительно увеличилось

с Encircle the suffixes and translate the following words into Russian:

annually................................... financial.........................................

unilaterally.............................. prevention......................................

dramatically............................ trusting...........................................

forwarder................................ ability............................................

d Write down the following numerals as in the examples:

USD 36,000........................................................................................................................................

RUR 48,000........................................................................................................................................

GBP 120 mln......................................................................................................................................

324,946................................................................................................................................................

0.3%.....................................................................................................................................................

0.7%....................................................................................................................................................

1.0%...................................................................................................................................................

e Open the brackets using the correct Voice forms:

1 Each year Euro 432 bn of taxes and duties (to channel) through the T1 system.

2 The Community Transit regime (to design) in the sixties.

3 Today, transit (to organise) by freight forwarders.

4 Customs budgets (to reduce).

5Their ability to process the T1 form transactions (to slow down) dramatically.

6 Proliferation of fraud (to relate) directly to the implementation of a frontier free EU.

f Encircle the ing-forms, write down what parts of sentences they are and translate the sentences into Russian:

1 The present system places burden of preventing fraud onto the freight forwarders........... attribute.............

2 Those freight forwarders acting unilaterally to stop the fraud have found that their ability to process the T1 form transactions has slowed down dramatically.....................................................................................................

3 This has resulted in customers shifting business to freight forwarders who are more trusting and less punctilious.................................................................................................................................................................

g Mark the correct translation of the sentences with a tick:

h Translate the following sentences into Russian:

1 Customs authorities have not been able to keep pace with an increasing workload.

2 The prevention of fraud takes time and expertise.

3 The resulting costs which they pass on to their customers, have increased dramatically.

§ Suggested activities

i Sum up what new facts this text gives on frauds.

j Write a short summary on the functions of freight forwarders.

k Imagine you are a customs official speaking at a seminar. The topic is The Financial Impact of Frauds. The following may be of help: