Requisites of Customs Preventive Measures against Imported Goods Threatening Consumers' Health

Today, with the spread of Customs offenses and the variety of ways in which they are perpetrated, the function of the Customs Administration as the economic guard of the country and the central actor of the country's entry and exit poits has become important in adopting preventive measures commensurate with the typology of Customs offenses. To this end, with the emphasis on maximizing public health support for the country's macro policies on the one hand, as well as the increasing interest of the public to consume imported goods, on the other hand, the Customs role for detecting, identifying and reporting the goods threatening the consumer’s health- judicial authorities has been elevated. The goods threating the consumer’s health could be edible, beverage, cosmetic, and the focus of this paper is on these topics. The key question in this paper is, considering Customs’ functions, which Customs enforcement-approaches can be more effective in protection against the import of counterfeit goods that threaten the health of consumers? The customs' practical approach in importation of health-threatening goods focuses on two offenders’ behavior: the first is the attempt to detect smuggled goods; the second is the identification of non-smuggled imported goods which are counterfeit or past expiration date with official documents about to enter the country. In this regard, the present paper attempts to combine practical experiences and reference to relevant examples with the assistance of a library-based descriptive-analytical methodology to express the outcome of its diagnostic approach in the form of requisite strategies. Finally, it can be concluded that, despite all the positive efforts that have been made in the field of preventive measures against the beneficiaries of imported goods that threaten the health of consumers, solutions such as enhancing multilateral domestic and transnational cooperation related to seizure, identification, authentication and cooperation with the health-related agencies and the utilization of relevant inspectors, will increase its efficiency. Technological measures such as intelligent risk management and the inspiration of the practical approaches of the World Customs Organization and the designed global networks provide the basis for identifying counterfeit and harmful goods. In addition, the use of international commodity codes and the training to relevant players and iclusion in domestic Customs system adds to the preventive effectiveness of Customs. Please cite this article as: Salajeghe S, Sayebani A. Requisites of Customs Preventive Measures against Imported Goods Threatening Consumers' Health. Iran J Med Law 2020; 14(52): 89-115.