Legislation to speed up Customs checks and improve the detection of contraband has been passed by the House of Assembly.

The Revenue Amendment Act 2007 obliges ships and aircraft to provide the Collector of Customs with electronic lists of passengers and crew prior to arrival in Bermuda when required.

Government anticipates that this will assist local security officers in pin-pointing high-risk individuals and cargo items.

The information to be listed will include sex, date of birth, passport number and country of issue.

The bill also obliges ships and aircraft to provide electronic data in advance on cargo including the marks, numbers and contents of every item of goods on board. Failure to comply with either requirement will lead to a $12,000 fine.

Minister of Finance Paula Cox told the House: “In a climate of rapid social and commercial change, existing Customs controls of passengers and their baggage have been found to be insufficient both with respect to duty and with respect to prohibitions and restrictions.”

She said there was no existing requirement to deliver inward and outward passenger and crew manifests to the Collector of Customs and that the requirements in relation to goods are inadequate. There was also no power to specify that they must be delivered pre-arrival or in electronic form.

She explained: “All of the measures are calculated to facilitate accelerated clearance of goods, passengers and their baggage by permitting advanced scrutiny and targeting of high-risk goods and persons in advance of their arrival in Bermuda. Such intelligence-driven or risk-based targeting translates into fewer and more directed searches of goods and persons with an enhanced likelihood of successful interdiction of offenders.”