Customs officers - powers of search

This page outlines what you need to know about arriving at customs in Ireland. It covers Customs Officers, customs searches, and where to go if you want to make a complaint.

Legislation

The Customs Act 2015 is the law that covers the powers of customs searches in Ireland.

Returning to Ireland

If you are an Irish person living abroad and planning to move home, visit the Returning to Ireland portal. We have the practical information you need to start life in Ireland again.

Customs and Excise officers check imported goods (including personal baggage). This is to prevent people smuggling dutiable, excisable, or prohibited goods.

These checks are regularly carried out on travellers arriving from outside the EU (or from outside the EU via an EU country). These travellers must make a Customs declaration, a document with details of goods being imported or exported.

If you are arriving in Ireland from outside the EU via an EU country, you must make a Customs declaration unless all your baggage was cleared by Customs officers at your point of arrival in the EU.

If you are entering or leaving the EU and carrying €10,000 or more in cash, you must make a special declaration to the Customs authority of the EU country you are entering or leaving.

Blue Channel (EU Arrivals)

You should go through the Blue Channel if you have:

• Arrived from another EU country
• Arrived from a non-EU country via an EU country (For example, New York to Frankfurt to Dublin), and
• Had all your baggage cleared by Customs at your first point of entry into the EU

Red Channel

You should go through the Red Channel if you have:

• Travelled from within or outside the EU, and
• More than the allowances you are entitled to, or
• Prohibited or restricted goods, or
• Doubts about whether you have more than the permitted allowances

Green Channel

You should go through the Green Channel if you have:

• Travelled from outside the EU
• No prohibited or restricted goods, and
• Only the allowances that you are permitted

Travellers from outside the EU may be questioned and their baggage examined.

Travellers from within the EU do not have to make a Customs declaration and should continue through the Blue Channel. However, Customs officers can question these travellers if they have reason to doubt that the person arrived from an EU country.

Customs officers may also intervene if they have reason to believe that:

• Prohibited or restricted goods (including drugs) are being imported or exported
• An offence is being committed in respect of excisable products

These procedures are in place to help protect public safety and to guard against tax or duty fraud.

Travellers can only be searched by Customs officers if an officer has reason to suspect that:

• They carry prohibited or uncustomed goods (uncustomed goods are imported, which are more than the traveller's allowance and not declared to Customs)
• They are carrying drugs on their person

In practice, most searches made by Customs officers are made because the officer suspects the person is carrying drugs. If you are to be searched on suspicion of carrying drugs:

• You must understand the reason for the search
• You can only be searched by an officer of the same sex
• Nobody of the opposite sex can be present if you must remove clothing for the search (other than a hat, coat, jacket, gloves, or similar articles of clothing) unless another person is needed because of your violent conduct or either that person is a registered medical practitioner or a registered nurse
• You have the right to request that the search be carried out by a medical practitioner

If Customs officers find controlled drugs, you may be prosecuted, arrested or issued a summons.

If you refuse to be searched, you can be arrested without a warrant by the Customs officer and may be prosecuted. If Customs officers arrest you, you will be taken to the nearest police station to be charged with an offence.

Customs officers keep records of all the searches that they conduct.

Additionally, anybody who is detained by Customs officers has the right to:

• Access a solicitor
• Access a doctor
• Inform a relative or third party about their situation

If you feel you have been unfairly treated by Customs officers, you can make a complaint - see ‘Complaints about customs searches’ below.

Pat-down search

A pat-down search involves a search of outer clothing without removing clothing.

Intimate body search

An intimate body search may involve the removal and search of clothing and a visual examination of the undressed person by an officer or medical practitioner to verify if drugs are being concealed.

You cannot be subjected to an intimate body search for drugs unless customs officers have reasonable cause to suspect that you have a controlled drug.

Internal body search

Customs officers do not carry out internal body searches.

Penalties for carrying uncustomed goods

There are penalties for carrying uncustomed goods. The goods can also be seized along with any other articles used to conceal or carry the uncustomed goods or anything packed with them.

Penalties for carrying illegal drugs

The penalties for smuggling illegal drugs are set out in the Misuse of Drugs Act (1977). The penalties range from a fine (in the case of a person convicted of importing a drug such as cannabis for personal use) to life imprisonment (for the most serious offences, such as importing drugs for supply to others).

Make a formal complaint

You should complain to the Local Revenue Office first. Find the contact details on the Revenue website. Provide as much detail as possible. You can refer the complaint on wards and request a Local Review if you are unhappy with the initial outcome.

Refer the complaint on wards for a Local Review

If you are unhappy with initial outcome, you can ask to have your complaint referred to the:

• Manager in the Local Office, or
• Manager in the relevant Divisional office (in some circumstances)

Request an internal or external review

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the Local Review. You can request a review to be carried out within 30 working days of the Local Review decision by an independent:

• Internal reviewer, or
• External reviewer

Revenue has published a leaflet (CS4) on their complaint and review procedures (pdf).

If you have any information about drug smuggling in Ireland, you can:

• Phone 1800 295 295 (Customs Drug Watch Confidential Freephone), or
• Email NPC@revenue.ie