Border control

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Border control

Border controls are measures used by a country to monitor or regulate its borders.

The control of the flow of people, animals and goods across a border may be controlled by government Customs services. The security of the boards is enforced by various kinds of Border Guards and Coast Guards. Official designations, jurisdictions and subordinations of these agencies vary.

Border controls exist to:

regulate immigration (both legal and illegal)
control the movement of citizens
collect excise tax
prevent smuggling of drugs, weapons, endangered species and other illegal or hazardous material
control the spread of human or animal diseases (see also quarantine)

The degree of strictness of border controls depends on the country and the border concerned. In some countries, control may be targeted at the traveller's national origin or other countries that have been visited. Others may need to be certain the traveller has paid the appropriate fees for their visas and has future travel planned out of the country. Yet others may concentrate on the contents of the travellers baggage, and imported goods to ensure nothing is being carried that might bring a biosecurity risk into the country. In the member states of the Schengen agreement, internal border control is often virtually unnoticeable, and often only performed by means of random car or train searches in the hinterland, while controls at borders with non-agreement states may be rather strict.

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