Brief History of the Bulgarian Customs Administration

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BULGARIAN CUSTOMS INSTITUTION (1879-2019) THE BEGINNING interests of the principality.“ The princely decree The development of the customs administra- on the establishment of customs also provides for tion in Bulgaria follows the main periods of devel- the duty taxation of foreign goods. The Decree opment of the Bulgarian state. also provides for duty-free imports from Eastern 1 The fi rst provisions for the organization and Rumelia and Macedonia. The date of the de- functioning of the Bulgarian customs were from cree - July the 7th, 1879 - is considered the birth- the beginning of 1879. After the adoption of the day of the Bulgarian customs administration. Turnovo Constitution on April 16, 1879 (the fi rst During the fi rst fi ve years of Bulgarian customs constitution of Bulgaria), Prince Alexander I Bat- activity, their legal basis is the „Customs Statute tenberg with Decree No 1 of 5 July appointed of the Bulgarian Principality“, endorsed by the the Ministers and the President of the Council of Russian Imperial Commissioner in Bulgaria. Ac- Ministers of the fi rst Bulgarian government, and cording to Article 1 of the Statute, customs are customs houses and customs points were estab- offi ces at the border through which imports and lished by Decree No.2 „in order to preserve the exports are made. Customs management is Sketch (according to description from 1879) The Decree establishing the Bulgarian Customs of a uniform of a customs offi cer 100 1 Autonomous Province of the Ottoman Empire, established in Southern Bulgaria under the Berlin Treaty of 1878 entrusted to the Ministry of Finance, where the For the fi rst time a Disciplinary Council was es- Customs Department is established. tablished to the Ministry of Finance, the status of The main trade routes of the principality with the customs guard was arranged, the rights and foreign countries are mainly two: the Black Sea - obligations of the customs brokers were speci- to the east and the Danube river - to the north. fi ed, an Expert Commission on disputes regarding The customs in Rousse, Lom, Vidin and Svishtov goods tariffi ng was created as well as a Revision serve imports from and to the countries of West- Commission, dealing with claims/appeals regard- ern Europe, South America, Serbia and Turkey. ing customs penal decrees and customs notices. Following the proclamation of the Unifi cation of The fi rst specifi c customs tariff was adopted the Principality of Bulgaria with East Rumelia on by the National Assembly on December the September 6, 1885, the duties remaining under an 17th, 1904 and began to apply as from the be- agreement signed only just in the previous year ginning of 1906. were canceled. Customs houses were found at The organization of the Customs Service, with our land border with Turkey. The primary task of a few exceptions, has been preserved for a long the government is to put under customs control time as it was settled right after the Liberation. the fl ow of goods and passengers passing through The Department of indirect taxes was set up to the railway lines. Two large customs houses were the Ministry of Finance which was also assigned opened - in Plovdiv and Harmanli, as well as cus- to serve as a customs division. In 1909, the De- toms houses in settlements inside the country. partment for indirect taxes was divided into two Already in their fi rst years, customs began to parts: for customs and for indirect taxes. In the keep statistics on imports and exports which be- beginning of 1911, the Customs Department be- comes clear from the Almanac „Statistics on the came autonomous after the transfer of munici- trade of the Principality of Bulgaria during 1883- pal taxes to tax structures. In 1925, an Anti-Smug- 1884.“ According to it, the customs houses of the gling Bureau was established on the basis of the Principality in 1884 were 25, some of which still Bureau of Infringements, and an Administrative exist today. Bureau was established in 1926 to include pros- In the beginning of 1885, the fi rst Customs ecution against smuggling and customs legisla- Act was adopted, which aimed to encourage tion enforcement activities, with the exception some branches of the emerging Bulgarian indus- of what concerns customs tariffs. Their applica- try. The duty-free export of leaf tobacco, wine, tion remained the responsibility of the Tariff Bu- brandy, grapes, fruit and vegetables, books, pic- reau. The structure of the Customs Department tures and icons was allowed. Even the fi rst laws in the early 1930s included: Administrative Bu- speak of import, export and transit as regimes. A reau, Bureau of tariffs, control, information and special emphasis was put on the rail transport, statistics and the Control chemical laboratory. which carried sealed wagons. In 1900, the Customs Regulation was adopted DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND and for the fi rst time the details of the overall ac- AFTERWARDS tivity of the Bulgarian customs were examined. During the Second World War and in the pe- Together with its many applications, the regula- riod 1944-1989 the structure of Bulgaria‘s foreign tion is a true encyclopedia for the organization, trade and the work of customs were infl uenced management, personnel and the multilateral by political and historical processes. After Bul- activities of the Bulgarian customs in the early garia‘s entry into the war, absolute centralization 20th century. Customs offi cers are assigned to of imports and exports was imposed, a number collect customs duties, fi ght smuggling and pun- of prohibitions were introduced for the export of ish offenders. goods and materials needed to supply the local In 1906, a new customs act was drafted, population and the army. Customs reduced the which, although modifi ed many times accord- volume of their work several times. ing to the requirements of the developing econ- Amendments and supplements to the Cus- omy, remains in force for 42 years. For the fi rst toms Act during the war provided relief, facili- time the act has a separate chapter, devoted tation and encouragement concerning the ex- to the newly created chemical laboratories at emption from customs duties and other taxes on the customs. domestic industrial products at the exports, as 101 well as at the imports of all raw materials, wrap- THE BULGARIAN CUSTOMS AT pings, packaging and preservatives, necessary THE END OF XX AND THE BEGINNING for the manufacture of the products intended for export. During the bombing over Sofi a, the OF THE XXI CENTURY solution of issues that were within the compe- Following the changes in 1989-1990, the Bul- tence of the customs was done not by laws as garian customs administration undertook new was the usual practice but by decrees of the tasks, functions and responsibilities in the period Council of Ministers, approved by royal decrees of abolition of the state monopoly. because, as recorded in the reports, „customs Under an agreement in 1993 (in force since issues permit no delays“ and the customs institu- 1995), Bulgaria was associated to the European tion continues its activity even in the most tense Community and was committed to aligning its and fateful times for our country. legislation with that of the European Union (EU). After 1944, under the terms of a planned Priority has been placed on customs legislation economy, the customs are assigned with pro- as a basis for integration into the single European tecting the state monopoly on imports and ex- market. As a part of the process of Bulgaria‘s ac- ports and pursuing all forms of smuggling. The cession to the EU, in the period 2001-2002 the ne- import-export trade almost entirely goes from gotiations on Chapter 25 „Customs Union“ took the private sector to the hands of the state. Ad place. A strategic task was to determine the fur- valorem duties were introduced which, ac- ther increase in the administrative capacity to cording to the then decisions, „best refl ect the implement the Union‘s acquis, which included: role of duties on the planned development of developing a human resource management sys- the economy.“ In 1948, the Grand National As- tem, introducing ex-post control, improving the sembly passed a new customs act, but the main quality of infrastructure and equipment, further functions of the customs remained unchanged developing the system of customs laboratories, - to observe the interest of the Fisc and to fi ght computerization, development of a common/ smuggling. Part of the functions of the customs integrated tariff, fi ght against corruption. At the were reduced due to the fact that foreign end of 2003, the harmonization of customs legis- trade was a monopoly of the state, even for lation with that of the EU was almost complete. some period between 1960 and 1966 the cus- The computerization of customs activity is a toms went under the direction of the Ministry of key priority for the customs administration. In Foreign Trade and then returned to subordina- 1999, an Information Technology Strategy of the tion of the Ministry of Finance, as is the tradition National Customs Agency was adopted, con- after the Liberation to nowadays. In 1973, Bul- taining a decision to develop its own integrated garia became a member of the World Customs information system. In 2000, BICIS (the Bulgarian Organization. Integrated Customs Information System) started as a joint project of the Bulgarian Government and the European Commission. BICIS 1 was im- plemented and was functioning in all customs offi ces as of January 1st, 2001. The important in- ternational acts that our country signs, require the use of new techniques for customs control and information technologies.

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