Causes of customs evasion in Algeria

Abstract

The legal doctrine has struggled to provide a unified definition of customs evasion due to differences in customs legislation and the diverse and expansive nature of the activity itself. However, the Algerian legislator has deviated from this principle by attempting to define smuggling in Article 2 of Ordinance No. 05-06 on anti-smuggling. Nonetheless, this attempt was unsuccessful as it merely outlined the material act constituting the crime of smuggling.

The first section of the article addresses this issue. The commission of the crime of customs evasion can be attributed to various causes, which differ from country to country and are not all equally significant. Some of these causes are fundamental, while others are supplementary or secondary. Certain reasons, however, are considered the most common causes of customs evasion. These include economic, social, political, security and geographical factors, which are discussed in the second section of the article.