The Impacts of the Changing Environment on Taiwan Customs Administration

海關是主權國家重要政府機關之一，其管轄範圍包括陸、海、空運所有通商口岸。海關的傳統功能為：徵稅、通關、查緝、貿易統計、助航設備等；21世紀的海關受到全球化、便捷貿易倡議、安全顧慮等挑戰，業務範疇較之傳統更大，內容複雜程度也更高。現代海關在管控貿易時必須兼顧本國政經目標、國際規範與責任，舉凡世界貿易組織之便捷貿易計畫、國際供應鏈安全、智慧財產權、逃漏稅管理稽查等議題，都已成為海關例行工作的範疇，因此需要嶄新的專業作為。 本論文依循系統理論，將構成我國關務體系之各項要素歸納整理，並繪製我國關務體系動態模型，作為本研究之藍圖。 首先分析我國關務體系內部組織架構、業務職掌。包括關政司與關稅總局兩單位職掌之疊床架屋，基隆、臺北、臺中、高雄四個地區關稅局之簡介，關務核心業務變遷、人力資源以及機關文化等。 其次將影響我國關務體系之投入區分為國、內外因素加以探討。國內因素包括：我國近30年經貿發展、國內貿易相關業者、民眾以及其他政府機關對海關之需求；國外因素包括：WTO、WCO、APEC等國際組織對我國關務體系所造成的壓力，並觀察近幾年美國、英國、新加坡等國之海關進行組織調整的具體作法。 接著審視我國關務體系因應國內外環境變遷所形成的轉化、產出與反饋，包括調降稅率，提升行政效率，組織再造；觀察其實際作為是否符合國內外業界之需求，又其反饋是否適切回應整體環境變遷。 最後彙整研究過程所發現之問題，思考全球政經環境急遽變遷下，我國關務體系之挑戰，提出若干建議，希望提供我國關務機關未來發展之參考。The Customs is one of the crucial agencies of a sovereign state. The jurisdiction of the Customs includes all commerce gateways: land, sea and air ports. The traditional functions of the customs are duty levy, cargo clearance, border enforcement and trade statistics. Facing the challenges of globalization, trade facilitation initiatives and security considerations, the Customs of the 21st century has broadened its functions beyond the traditional to handle the increased complexity of its tasks. While controlling trades, the modern Customs also bear the responsibility of fulfilling its national political and economic goals, as well as meeting the international standards. The WTO trade facilitation plans, international supply chain security, intellectual property rights, tax evasion control and audit have all become part of the routine tasks of the modern Customs. It requires new and professional operations to handle these added functions properly. Applying System Theory, this thesis analyzed the key elements of the Taiwan Customs Administration and constructed a dynamic response model of the subject Administration to be used as the blueprint of the research. First, the thesis analyzed the structure and functions of the Taiwan Customs Administration, including the overlapping of the Directorate General of Customs and the Department of Customs Administration, briefly introduced the four field Customs offices, discussed the changes in the core functions of the Customs, the human resources, and organizational culture. Then, the thesis looked into the domestic and foreign factors affecting the Taiwan Customs Administration. The domestic factors are Taiwan economic developments in the last 30-40 years, the needs for trade related industries, the people and the government agencies regularly served by the Customs. The foreign factors are the pressures from the international organizations - WTO, WCO and APEC. In addition, this thesis offers an observation of the reorganization efforts by the Customs of U.S., U.K. and Singapore in the last decade. Next, the thesis reviewed the transformations, outputs and feedbacks of the Taiwan Customs Administration, including reducing import duty rates, increasing administrative efficiencies, organizational restructuring. Meanwhile, it assesses whether the operations of the Taiwan Customs meet the needs of the domestic and foreign trade related industries, and whether its feedbacks properly respond to the overall changes. At the end, this thesis summarized the findings of the research; deliberated the crucial challenges of the Taiwan Customs Administration facing the rapid changes in the global political and economic environments. It offered several recommendations for the future developments of the Taiwan Customs Administration