[Sithis]

Recently, His Majesty Sithis II of Realm negotiated with the esteemed representatives of Gebiv for an exchange of land on a significant scale. Earlier today, His Majesty delivered orders to our headquarters in New Cheydinhal that the EAC will be handling the administration of the Strait of Gibraltar. Accordingly, we felt it necessary to publish the appropriate information for those who wish to conduct business in the Mediterranean through the Strait.

All commercial vessels will need three crew lists/passenger lists, Maritime Declaration of Health, ship's register, loadline certificate, de-rating certificate, Crew Agreement, and a certificate of Insurance concerning Civil liability for Oil Pollution. Private vessels need only the crew/passenger lists, Maritime DoH, ship's register, and Crew Agreement.

The Port of Gibraltar is administered by the Customs Department of the East Africa Company. The authority with responsibility for the Port is the Governor General of the East Africa Company, the Hon. Sithis I of Realm. The Customs Department is responsible for the control of all imports/exports by the sea, land or air. It also has the responsibility for the clearance of passengers and their baggage on arrival in Gibraltar and equally so controls are exercised over the arrivals of private pleasure crafts.

Any ship arriving in Gibraltar with cargo must, within 24 hours, make report of the ship and the cargo by delivery to Customs an inward manifest of goods on duly signed by the Master or Agent, as the case may be. The Master must also answer all questions which may be put to him by the Customs Officer relating to the ship, her crew, cargo, passengers, stores, and voyage. He must also produce and deliver any document relating to the ship, her cargo etc. In the case of a ship over 1,000 net tons, the manifest required shall only relate to cargo to be landed or transhipped in Gibraltar. However, the Master must still answer any question and produce a manifest of goods in transit if this is required by the Customs Officer. The cargo is then unloaded and placed in Transit Sheds where it is segregated and sorted out by the ship's agents for delivery for home use or for re-export from Gibraltar. A free storage period of five days is allowed - thereafter if the goods have not been cleared then they are stored in a Government Warehouse where store rent accrues.

Private pleasure crafts arriving in Gibraltar are subjected to normal Customs clearance and the Master must produce to the authorities a crew list giving details of those on board, including names, nationalities, passport numbers etc. On arrival, yachts must report to the reception berth on the starboard side of the approach to the Marinas. Information about the actual vessel is also required which should include nationality, port of registry etc. It is convenient for these crews lists to be ready before the vessels arrives in Gibraltar. There are prohibitions on importation of certain items such as flick knives, gravity knives, controlled drugs, firearms, explosives, ivory etc.

There is a 15% import duty on new vessels imported and which are going to be permanently based here. Temporary importation, without payment of duty, is allowed, provided that the importer is not permanently resident in Gibraltar. Unaccompanied yachts imported by non-residents may remain in Gibraltar under temporary import regulations although they may be placed under Customs seal until duty is paid. The only exceptions to the tax are the members of the Pan-African Coalition who must pay a 5% duty under the terms of the Romulus Initiative, any vessel that belongs to the nation of Gebiv is exempt from paying a tax, and members of the Alliance of Crescent Nations must pay a 10% duty.

If you have any questions, I will take them now.
Sincerely,

The Honorable Sithis I
Governor General of the East Africa Company

OOC: In case you forgot, Sithis I was the first ruler I RPed as. His successor, Sithis II, is currently in office as Lord of Realm. They are two different people.

TL;DR: 15% tax for non-PAC, non-ACN, non-Gebiv nations through the Strait of Gibraltar.

This post has been edited by Sithis: 17 November 2008 - 10:33 PM

[Sargun]

OOC: What's a PAC nation's tax? Got confused, sorry.

This post has been edited by Sargun: 17 November 2008 - 10:33 PM

[Silhouette]

OOC: Nice, Sithis.

[Sithis]

Sargun, on Nov 17 2008, 11:32 PM, said:

OOC: What's a PAC nation's tax? Got confused, sorry.

5%, as per the Romulus Initiative (see the Pan-Africa Accords if you forgot what that was).

[Sargun]

The Republic's ruler's strong point isn't math. He leaves that stuff to the silly little "economic professors" or whatnot. However, we'll pay whatever it is Realm just put forth: no biggie.

[Gebiv]

-ignore-

This post has been edited by Gebiv: 17 November 2008 - 11:07 PM

[JEDCJT]

The New Byzantine Empire will pay any Realmic taxes and duties.

[Mirreille]

OOC: My apologies for the /bump; I was ill or I would have replied to this MUCH sooner./OOC

Ile de Noir finds this totally unacceptable. Not only is the tax excessive, but the beaureaucratic nonsense attached to it just to allow you to spy on other nations' shipping in order to get an unfair competitive advantage is outrageous. All of our non-Mediterranean trade ships pass through the Gibralter straight, as we have never had particularly close relations with RA compared to Gebiv. Do you really expect us to accept this enourmous tax burden just so you can line your own pockets? Ile de Noir will not use the straights of Gibralter unless a more reasonable policy is enacted. You are already damaging our economy with this action, and I seriously doubt if you have the port facilities to handle the huge additional burden you have placed on them with these new inspection policies. Your policies on personal craft are not acceptable either, for one thing we don't restrict those hand held weapons, so are you going to enforce your laws on ships that are merely passing through the straights? I am amazed that so many other nations who use this passage would allow this drastic and draconian change to occur without so much as a comment. When Gebiv owned the straight merchant and private vessels were free to come and go without taxation; this policy will be disasterous for everyone in the long run.

OOC: Not personal Sithis, this is just repugnant to my nation, totally. /OOC

[Vince Sixx]

President Craig says over the television, "We are prepared to pay the tax, and all export ships will be required to have manifest and crew reports on board at all times. The legislature is currently passing through the senate to make it mandatory."