Recommendations of 10th June 201019 concerning the Customs Service’s Brigades for Interior Surveillance in Amiens and Reims The Brigades for Interior Surveillance in Amiens (Somme) and Reims (Marne) of the General Directorate for Customs and Excise were inspected by the controllers from the Contrôleur général des lieux de privation de liberté (CGLPL) on 6th November 2008 and 9th December 2008, respectively. The factual observations made during each visit were sent to the Chiefs of these brigades on 19th December 2008 and 23rd December 2008, respectively. Responses were issued on 19th and 26th  January 2009. The complete inspection reports for each visit were sent for comment to the Minister of the Budget, Public Accounts and Civil Service on 27th  February 2009 and 2nd  March 2009. The Minister issued his response on 1st July 2009. Further to this procedure and in accordance with the law n°2007-1545 of 30th  October 2007, the Contrôleur général makes the following recommendations: 1/ The customs personnel encountered during these inspections show true humanity in the execution of their tasks. 2/ The time at which the customs detention begins should be that when the person has been effectively deprived of their total freedom of movement and not when the prohibited merchandise was discovered (caught in the act of committing an offence); a sometimes long research period may separate the two moments. The Customs Code – Article 323 – should thus be used to determine the periods of detention as is done for an infraction of common law (Article 63 of the Criminal Procedure Code). 3/ Body searches must not be performed systematically, but used 19 Published in the Journal Officiel de la République française of 2nd July 2010, text n°80. 39