You'd want to be very sure about the whole face value argument. Sorry Mr Goldfinger, you were right. However we misplaced your gold coins and will re-imburse you. $1,000 wasn't it?
Seriously if you are having any concerns just go to Vista Print online and order 100 Business cards for like $2 and put your full name on the card with your profession as a Jeweler You can then fly with any amount that is under the weight restriction, when you get confronted at the scanner and you will (density alarm will go off with Gold / Silver) just hand them one of your cards and request you get a private viewing room for the inspection, you will be in and out within 15 mins MAX.
If you weren't a jeweler and you said you were, wouldn't you be lying and possibly have a very bad outcome for you?
How can someone argue the case if you claim to be a 'Jeweler' i.e. Sole Trader and not registered for GST hence no ABN and no registered Business name, your goods are not hallmarked as your own so you don't need a Jewelers license number or anything. Your not traveling with a large amount of second hand jewellery so you don't need a license for that either. It's not like you will need to provide proof of trading for 5 years or anything, it's not about deception it's about making a legitimate and plausible claim based on the evidence you have provided. You are not just your occupation you are a person with unlimited rights and the freedom to make claim on what ever avenue you aspire to within State and Federal regulations, at that time you would technically be a Jeweler.
Well its not like your claimeing to be a good jeweler, or even an experianced one, hell it could be your first day in your newley chosen profession. I like your out of the box thinking on this one tozak.
A friend of my daughter's, whose dad is a jeweler. The father has given up any form of international travel, as when he returns to Australia he is searched. If the family is with him - they also get the same treatment. To be honest, I think that you should consider picking another area of employ to be in for this scenario.
Fair enough, I wouldn't do it, but each to their own. They might keep the business card and if they smell something funny follow it up. One of the guys might be a jeweler by trade. I have been interrogated by customs before and was totally honest, which made it go fairly fast. I wouldn't want to give those guys any ammo. Each to their own though.
Ive travelled Perth to Adelaide with two 100 x 1oz lunar box before and they asked me if they were casino chips. They couldnt see through them in the scanner so I was asked to put them in a tray to scan them seperately. The boxes was wrapped in plastic bag's in my carry on, so I just took them out and told them they were coins. They also scanned my carry on bag again (now totally empty) and let me through no problem. They didnt care about the coins, they only cared that they couldnt see under them on the scanner.
Do you really think that bullion isn't easy to transport, easy to turn into cash, and internationally recognised. For those reasons its as good as cash, and Austrac is aware of that. They definately consider it something that falls into AML. NO way will you get a lot of gold through unless the person checking doesnt understand it. Silver they probably dont understand. Look at their website. I think you are crazy to test the theory of face value vs bullion value at customs!
You could try a Monster Box, just go out and find the most decorative high class wrapping paper you can find and carefully wrap it all up then tie it up with big bow using expensive looking ribbon, attach a get well card to the out side saying "you are so strong and your going to beat this, with love your whole family" then see if they really want to cut it open on you.
Yes but the letter of the law is important too. Looks the back of a customs declaration form next time. They're all about the same. They're talking about paper assets. Like a treasury note for $1000. That is the "equivalent" to $1000 cash. Just because gold is readily exchangeable for cash is not a good reason to declare it as such. Hell, a genuine Rolex is a liquid item. Why not declare that at its cash equivalent appraised value? Because its not cash. Also make sure you look at the specific tariff document for the country you're entering. Some forms of PMs require duties to be paid while others don't.
I think we need to distinguish between the security screening and customs functions (international flights only). Domestically there are no customs - something to do with the Australian Constitution i think So the screening is just for security reasons so I see no reasons why you can't carry as much as you want on a flight within Australia. There possibly is some thing for the security people about looking out for potential criminal activity but I suspect they are just trained to look for anything out of the ordinary, which would account for the request to check what those discs or blobs of metal are in your luggage. For international flights/customs, there isn't anything in the Migration Act 1958 about gold. In Division 3.1 (Information to be given by arriving persons) of the Migration Regulations 1994 (http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2012C00736) there is nothing about the interpretation of the wording on the passenger card (see http://www.customs.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/15IPCEngOct12.pdf), which says: "AUD$10,000 or more in Australian or foreign currency equivalent? Note: If a customs or police officer asks, you must report travellers cheques, cheques, money orders or other bearer negotiable instruments of any amount." Same wording on outgoing http://www.customs.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/16engOPC1109_sample.pdf "Are you taking out of Australia AUD$10,000 or more in Australian or foreign currency equivalent? If answered 'Yes' you must complete a Cross Border Movement Physical Cash (AUD$10,000 or more) Report to present with this card. Note: If a customs or police officer asks, you must report travellers cheques, cheques, money orders or other bearer negotiable instruments of any amount." The above requirements come from the AUSTRAC Act 2006 (http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2006A00169), Section 53: "53 Reports about movements of physical currency into or out of Australia Offence (1) A person commits an offence if: (a) either: (i) the person moves physical currency into Australia; or (ii) the person moves physical currency out of Australia; and (b) the total amount of the physical currency is not less than $10,000; and (c) a report in respect of the movement has not been given in accordance with this section." As mentioned earlier, the definition in the AUSTRAC Act 2006 (http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2006A00169/Html/Text#param5): "physical currency means the coin and printed money (whether of Australia or of a foreign country) that: (a) is designated as legal tender; and (b) circulates as, and is customarily used and accepted as, a medium of exchange in the country of issue." would seem to exclude Perth Mint coins and bars as they don't circulate as money. That is, precious metals are not reportable at all, and face value has no bearing. To back up this view, see this interesting article by the Australian Institute of Criminology (http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/8/2/3/{8239E8CD-681A-401B-B094-414C872418BE}tandi402.pdf) where the whole focus is on cash money laundering (includes great examples of how people try to smuggle cash and stats on the number of cash reports). I just don't think money laundering in/out of the country via bullion is a big risk that AUSTRAC are interested in. FYI, note that moving cash in/out of the country is allowed, you just have to report it, see http://www.customs.gov.au/site/content11170.asp "A 44-year-old Stirling man was detained for allegedly attempting to export over AUD$182,000 cash out of Australia via Perth International Airport. ... On his Outgoing Passenger Card the man had declared he was not taking over AUD$10,000 in cash out of Australia. ... There is no limit to the amount of currency you can bring in or out of Australia, however, under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 you must declare amounts of AUD$10,000 or more in Australian currency or foreign equivalent." However, note that in the article it says that "Customs officers subsequently referred the matter to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the large amount of cash has been seized by AFP officers and investigations are continuing." While there is no law against such cash movements (just on not reporting it), keep in mind that the police can seize it if they think something dodgy is going on (proceeds of crime etc). End result is why IMHO you don't need to report bullion, it will get picked up in the scanners and on the basis that such activity is not normal, questions will be asked, so good to have proof of ownership so the AFP doesn't have cause to think it is proceeds of crime and want to "investigate" it further.
You'd probably get out the first 10 words, confuse the customs person who would then get beligerent for you being smarter than him which would then get his supervisor involved but that wouldn't necessarily end up a wiser more informed person in the mix so with everyone getting a bit confused as to "the letter of the law", your gold would possibly get temporarily seized until clarrification which may mean questionable storage of your gold out of your sight and perhaps if you want to argue your case then you may be late for your flight which would then likely piss you off further so your diplomacy may start getting a bit taxed in which case you might start gettig a bit beligerent and surly yourself and we all know that the customs nazi's like nothing better than to piss people off so they can then throw their weight around.
Just force them to charge you with an offense or threaten to sue them personally, no one can seize your property nor detain you for a breach of policy it can only be for an offense or crime. Just ask for their personal details so you can start a civil case for acting beyond their capacity and they will most certainly stand down, if you spend your life in fear you will just enable people to stand over you, just stand up for your rights and your principles. This thread is in reference to domestic flights and domestic airport security is privately hired security for the purpose of a safe journey, they have no special rights to search and seize other than consented search to maintain safety. There are specific offenses related to breaches of air-security and they can collect details to be passed onto law enforcement for charges to be laid for prosecution but traveling with Gold and/or Silver is not yet on the list. International flights are different as these are dealt by Customs who do have special rights and non-compliance is a breach of on ACT and Custom Officers can then personally lay charges on behalf of the Commonwealth.
Evening all, Domestic - no problem with pm's in cabin baggage. It is not allowed in checked. Scanners are not a problem - problems that must be got around are if you are overweight cabin bags. You need a good system if you want to carry say 20 kg on cheap star. Trick is to look light, -- use your imagination. -- small wheelie and a strong bum or bellie bag. Make sure you are strong enough to lift up the cabin bag into an overhead without attracting attention. Believe me over 25 kg gets up a bit of a sweat - especially if you don't have an air bridge Bag size that fits under is good, but can be heavy to move and you come up crimson. If you go overhead, get on early, but not first, so there is free room in the lockers but others doing things so all the attention isn't just on you. Os, different kettle of fish. Why am I telling you all this?.. Have a great night Gazza.
Just went past security...didn't get isnpected. He did went back and forth...but its all good. Maybe under 50oz get ignored...lol
^^^ At 4am in an airport, everyone would've been so sleepy you could've had big old fashioned alarm clock strapped to some red hotdogs and he would've missed it. Where the hell were you going at such an early hour? Forget your discount fares.... the airline would've paid you to fly at that time
