THE EXCEPTIONAL NATURE OF THE SUBSTANTIVE PROVISIONS GOVERNING THE OFFENCE OF SMUGGLING: BETWEEN THE CUSTOMS CODE AND ORDER 05/06

The offence of smuggling occupies a distinctive position in Algerian legislation, characterised by both procedural and substantive particularity, a dual and repressive nature, and most notably by the absence of legislative coherence in the regulation of its provisions. The texts governing this offence are distributed between the Customs Code, which defines the crime, establishes its constituent elements, and regulates the procedures for its detection, and Order 05/06, which addresses penalties and establishes the deterrent and preventive mechanisms for combating it. This division between two distinct legislative instruments has given rise to a state of conceptual and procedural overlap, adversely affecting the clarity and effectiveness of customs legislation in its treatment of this offence. The central question accordingly concerns the legislature’s decision not to confine the regulation of smuggling to the Customs Code alone, and its resort to the issuance of Order 05/06, whether this unusual approach constitutes a legal necessity or rather an accommodation of the international conventions ratified by Algeria in the field of combating smuggling.