Customs Department: Air passengers can carry valuables conveniently as usual

BANGKOK, March 8 (TNA) -- The Customs Department assured that individual air passengers can carry valuables out of the country as usual without having to declare them. Chaiyut Khamkhoon, spokesman of the department, said that the department’s announcement on Feb 26 for outbound air passengers to declare their belongings actually conveyed a same old measure but the regulation must be re-announced because the new Customs Act just took effect in place of its old version dated from 1926. The department focused the implementation of the regulation on groups of travelers including film crews and meeting organisers so that they would not be taxed for their old equipment carried along on their return trips, Mr Chaiyut said. The recent announcement of the Customs Department did not require all air passengers to declare their belongings with customs officials before their departures, he said. General travelers could do the same as before, carrying notebook computers, watches and mobile phones, for example, out of the country without having to declare them. They would only have them scanned, Mr Chaiyut said. For incoming passengers, they would be exempted from tariffs if the combined value of newly bought products of each traveler did not exceed 20,000 baht. Customs officials continued with their usual random checks on incoming passengers, checking one passenger per 10-15 people, Mr Chaiyut said. (TNA)