The Act Schedule 1: The Serious Organised Crime Agency Chapter 2: SOCA: Special powers of designated staff Section 48: Person having customs powers
143.This section enables a member of staff of SOCA who has been designated with the customs powers of a Revenue and Customs officer to exercise relevant customs powers subject to any limitations imposed in accordance with section 43(2). SOCA staff will only need the powers of an officer of Revenue and Customs in respect of non-revenue matters, for example, the illegal importation of drugs or firearms; as a result the power to confer the powers of a Revenue and Customs officer on a member of SOCA's staff is limited to power in respect of “customs matters”. The definition of a “customs matter”, in subsection (7), is such as to exclude matters which were previously the responsibility of the Inland Revenue (these are set out in Schedule 1 to the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005) and the fiscal matters which were previously the responsibility of HMCE (for example VAT and fuel duties). A number of powers of a customs officer (for example the seizure powers in section 179 of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979) may be used both for revenue purposes and for the purposes of enforcing various prohibitions on importation (for example, of illegal drugs). Subsection (5) provides that in such cases the powers may only be exercisable in respect of non-revenue matters, thereby preserving the primacy of HMRC for all revenue matters.