If you’ve travelled to Cayman in the last few weeks, you may have noticed there are a few new lines on the customs declaration form.
Question number nine requires travellers to declare if they are carrying CI$15,000 or more into the country, the first time a monetary declaration has appeared on a Cayman Islands’ customs form.
The money can be in cash or bearer-negotiated instruments. No duty is required to be paid on any amount of money.
Assistant Customs Collector Kevin Walton said his department started distributing the forms on 17 August.
‘The transportation of money, regardless of the amount is legal,’ Mr. Walton said. ‘However, if you fail to declare or if you falsely declare to customs…it’s an offence.’
Amendments to the Customs Law passed in Legislative Assembly this spring allow officers to restrain funds they suspect are connected to drug trafficking or other illegal activities, such as the financing of terrorism.
No such cash seizures have occurred at Owen Roberts Airport since mid-August. In fact, Mr. Walton said some travellers have mistakenly declared having more than CI$15,000 when they actually did not.
‘We have had declarations on arrival so far, however these declarations didn’t meet the criteria we were looking for,’ he said. ‘For example, bearer-negotiated instruments do not include credit cards, debit cards, blank traveller’s cheques, or blank (bank) cheques.’
If travellers declare that they are carrying CI$15,000 or more, they are required to list their names, address and details of where the money was obtained on the customs form.
It is also possible that a customs officer could request a disclosure of funds upon a traveller’s departure. Disclosure is only required when leaving the islands if a customs officer asks for it.
Similar declarations are required to be made to customs by anyone having bearer-negotiable bonds shipped into Cayman via the postal service.
The cash declaration regulations were passed by lawmakers just before the Cayman Islands was to undergo an evaluation by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force, which was seeking compliance with international anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing standards.
The task force had identified the lack of monetary declarations to customs as an area where Cayman had a shortcoming.
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