Customs Administration Achieves Approximately One-Fifth of State Budget Revenue in the First Nine Months

The Customs Administration achieved a revenue of a total of 16 billion kuna in the first nine months, which is about one-fifth of the budget revenue, seized more than 6.5 million pieces of cigarettes and more than 10 million pieces of textile products, and initiated more than 8,800 misdemeanor proceedings, some of the data from the Ministry of Finance’s press release on the occasion of Customs Service Day.

Namely, the Customs Administration also solemnly marked the feast of its patron Saint Matthew and Customs Service Day on September 21 this year.

A ceremonial event was held at the Customs Administration attended by Finance Minister Zdravko Marić and the Assistant Minister and Director of the Customs Administration Hrvoje Čović with associates.

Due to the achieved above-average results in 2017, the Finance Minister rewarded 25 customs officers at the proposal of the Director of the Customs Administration.

As stated by the Ministry in a press release published on its website, in the first nine months of 2017, the Customs Administration achieved a revenue of a total of 16 billion kuna, which accounts for about 20 percent of the total revenues of the state budget. The largest amounts of revenue in the first nine months of 2017 come from the collection of excise duties and special taxes, amounting to 11 billion kuna.

By implementing targeted monitoring measures, the Customs Administration seized more than 6.5 million pieces of cigarettes and 40 tons of tobacco in the first nine months of this year.

By implementing monitoring measures to protect intellectual property rights, it seized a total of more than 10 million pieces of various textile products.

Following the conducted monitoring activities in the first nine months of 2017, 8,818 misdemeanor proceedings were initiated (8,248 misdemeanor orders issued and 570 charges filed), 18 criminal charges were submitted, and more than 10 million kuna in fines were calculated, according to data from the Customs Administration of the Ministry of Finance.

The Customs Administration is an administrative organization within the Ministry of Finance whose fundamental task is the application and supervision of the application of customs, excise, tax, and other regulations.

The Customs Administration consists of the Central Office, four regional customs offices, 13 border customs offices, and 19 customs offices, with 2,901 employed officials.

The Customs Service Act, which regulates the scope of work, tasks, and organization of the Customs Administration, establishes the legal framework through which the Customs Administration contributes to the fiscal and security stability of the state, and especially as an important inspection service contributes to the prevention and detection of illegal actions and the suppression of the “sive ekonomije”, reminds the Ministry.

They also remind that with the accession to the European Union, the Republic of Croatia also entered the Customs Union, which is the largest world exporter and importer of goods and services in the global market, producing one-fifth of the world’s GDP. This year, more than 293 million customs declarations were processed in the Customs Union, or one declaration every 9 seconds. The total amount of revenue from customs and customs duties in the European Union in 2017 was 18.6 trillion euros.