Personal jewellery in tourist baggage is protected as personal effects absent concealment and required customs examination.

Personal jewellery carried in a tourist's hand baggage was treated as "personal effects" eligible for temporary import free of duty under the Tourist Baggage Rules, 1978, where there was no evidence of concealment. Because the customs officer had not examined the baggage before the passenger reached the exit gate and had not prepared the list contemplated by Rule 7(2), there was no legally enforceable declaration default by the tourist. Confiscation and the connected penalty were therefore not sustainable in law and were set aside, with consequential relief flowing to the appellant.

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Issues: Whether the confiscation of personal jewellery carried in the hand baggage of a tourist and the consequential penalty were legally sustainable under the Tourist Baggage Rules and the Customs Act.

Analysis: The jewellery was found in the appellant's hand baggage and there was no material to show concealment. Personal jewellery falls within the expression "personal effects" and is eligible for temporary import free of duty under Rule 3 of the Tourist Baggage Rules, 1978. Rule 7 contemplates an undertaking and a list of high-value articles only after examination of baggage by the proper officer. On the facts, there was no examination of baggage before the appellant reached the exit gate and no list was prepared by the officer as contemplated by Rule 7(2). In the absence of a declaration failure after proper examination, the appellant could not be faulted, and the reasoning in the cited Tribunal precedent applied to the case.

Conclusion: The confiscation of the jewellery and the penalty were not sustainable in law and were set aside.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded and the appellant was held entitled to the consequential relief flowing from the setting aside of confiscation and penalty.

Ratio Decidendi: Where personal jewellery carried by a tourist is not shown to have been concealed and the customs authorities do not examine the baggage and issue the contemplated list under the Tourist Baggage Rules, confiscation and penalty cannot be sustained for want of a legally enforceable default by the tourist.

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