10 million of cigarettes and 300,000 of counterfeit goods in the value of over eight million euros have been confiscated, and almost one billion and a half of excise and other duties have been collected this year by the Slovenian Customs.

The Slovenian Customs Service today completed 23 years of existence, as on this day in 1991 the customs supervision was established at the Slovenian-Croatian border, and thus supervision at the entire Slovenian territory. Reorganisation of the Service was necessary, border crossing points had to be erected on the new state border, and modern legislation had to be formed.

1999 was the breakpoint, as law on VAT came into force, as well as Excise Duty Act, and the new Act on Customs Service. Another breakpoint for the Slovenian Customs was May 1, 2004, with integration of Slovenia into the European Union, by which it also became a part of the customs union with free movement of goods and persons. At that time the Customs Service withdrew from the borders with Italy, Austria and Hungary, and with July 1, 2013 the question "Do you have anything to declare?" vanished from the 670 km long border with Croatia as well, as Croatia on that day joined the European Union.

Customs and Tax Administration merged into Financial Administration
This year the Customs Administration of the Republic of Slovenia (Curs) went through another change: on August 1 it merged with the Tax Administration of the Republic of Slovenia (Durs) into the Financial Administration of the Republic of Slovenia (Furs). The priority tasks of Furs will be detection of tax evasions, and customs and excise duty irregularities, preventive activities, supervision of cash operation, combat against smuggling and detection of smuggled goods (illicit drugs, forgeries), with a special emphasis on fight against undeclared work, was explained by the Ministry of Finance.

Tina Hacler