His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) exercises a range of statutory customs functions in respect of both the collection and management of customs duty and the control and administration of imports/exports more generally. The exercise of these functions requires the collection and appropriate management of information. These include various functions relating to: the collection and management of customs duty; monitoring and controlling the movement of goods, including for purposes relating to safety and security and the customs enforcement of intellectual property rights; and the control of cash entering or leaving the UK.
	HMRC’s statutory framework on confidentiality requires a legal basis to be able to lawfully disclose HMRC information held in connection with departmental functions. This section provides a suitable legal basis for disclosure by HMRC of information held in relation to its customs functions to a range of recipients, including UK Ministers, government departments and police, and certain international partners, as described in the section. The information shared may extend to other taxes and duties apart from customs duty (for example, VAT and excise duty) but only to the extent it is held in relation to HMRC’s customs functions. For example, the measure allows HMRC to share VAT information relating to the import of goods that is captured as part of their customs functions, but not other VAT information submitted by businesses on their VAT returns.
	This section allows HMRC to share customs information in support of functions exercised by the recipients, including those relating to ensuring the security of UK borders. UK Ministers, government departments and police will be able to re-use customs information for any of their functions, and further share it for the limited purposes specified in section 31. All disclosures permitted by these sections will remain subject to data protection legislation, and disclosures outside of the section’s permissions will be restricted by reference to existing criminal penalties under the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005.
	Subsection (1), gives HMRC, or anyone acting on HMRC’s behalf, the power to supply information that HMRC holds in connection with its customs functions. The power is limited to supplying information to persons within section 30(3).
	Subsection (2) defines "customs functions" as HMRC's functions in their capacity as a customs service. It includes in particular their functions in that capacity relating to (a) the movement of goods or cash into, out of or within the United Kingdom, and (b) the imposition, enforcement or other regulation of any tax or duty relating to such movement of goods.
	The information may be shared with both UK recipients and non-UK recipients, as stated in subsection (3). UK recipients with whom information may be shared include a Minister of the Crown or a government department and a UK authorised person. Information may also be shared to specified persons within the Home Office, such as the Border Security Commander and the Director of Border Revenue (see subsection (3)(b)-(e)).
	Regarding "Minister of the Crown", this has the same meaning, as stated in subsection (5), as in the Ministers of the Crown Act 1975 (see section 8(1) of that Act): "[T]he holder of an office in Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom, and includes the Treasury, the Board of Trade and the Defence Council." Regarding "government department", this is defined at subsection (5), in such a way that includes a body exercising statutory functions on behalf of the Crown, such as the National Crime Agency, and the governments of the devolved administrations. Regarding, "UK authorised person", these UK persons are specified in section 36(3), and are police personnel.
	Non-UK recipients with whom information may be shared, as stated in subsection (3), are: (g) A government of a country or territory outside the United Kingdom; (h) A person in a country or territory outside the United Kingdom with public functions either (i) relating to the movement of goods or cash into or out of that country or territory, or (ii) relating to the imposition, enforcement or other regulation of any tax or duty relating to such movement of goods; and (i) An international organisation to which subsection (3) applies.
	Sharing information with international organisations is further clarified by subsection (4) which has the practical effect of limiting the sharing of information under 30(1) to international organisations that have functions relating to: (a) the movement of goods or cash across international borders; or if an international arrangement makes provision for cooperation between the organisation and HMRC. "International arrangement" is defined, in subsection (5), as "an international agreement or arrangement to which any of the following is a party: (a) the United Kingdom; (b) His Majesty’s Government; (c) HMRC; (d) the Commissioners for His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.".
	Subsection (5) defines various terms for the purposes of this section.
Part 1: Border Security Sharing of information Section 30: Supply of customs information by HMRC