Customs Administration

The history of the customs system of the Republic of Moldova begins promptly upon proclamation of the country's independence and sovereignty on September 4, 1991, after the Decree of the President of the Republic of Moldova nr.189 of 03.09.91 "Regarding the subordination of customs establishments located on the territory of the Republic of Moldova" came into force. This normative act provided that all the customs structures on the territory of the country, consisting at that time from the customs houses of Ungheni, Leuseni and Chisinau, were transferred under the administration of the Government of the Republic of Moldova.

Nowadays, The Customs Service of the Republic of Moldova is a public administration body subordinated to the Ministry of Finances which ensures the economic security of the state, promotes customs policies and directly governs the customs activity of the Republic of Moldova.

The Customs Service has the statute of a legal entity, owns a stamp with the State Coat of Arms of the Republic of Moldova, works as a budgetary institution subsidized from the state budget, owns special means (funds), as well as resources resulting from the self-managing activity of the subordinated units.

The Customs Service mission consists in the promotion of customs policies with the aim of ensuring economic security of the state through trade facilitation, security of the international circulation of goods and means of transportation, customs regulations observance, import and export duties collection, fight against customs fraud, development of a professional and transparent administration, which implements the international standards for the customs clearance simplification and protects the society by enforcing the customs legislation uniformly and impartially.

The Customs Service ensures the economic security of the state in conformity with international standards and facilitates trade in collaboration with businesses and civil society in order to boost foreign trade and create an encouraging investment climate.

The first Customs Code – the basic legal act governing organizational and management principles of the customs system – was adopted on 03.09.1993. The new version of the Customs Code was adopted on July 20, 2000.

Since October 1994 Moldova became a full member of the World Customs Organization.

The Customs Service is using a Customs Integrated Information System, which is based on the ASYCUDA World Information System. The system is installed and used in the head office of the Customs Service, and in all the regional customs houses and border check points.

ASYCUDAWorld is fully operational nationwide in the Moldovan Customs Service since 2006. Moldova was the first country that implemented ASYCUDAWorld nationwide in the operational Customs environment.

In all computerized customs offices:

- 100% declarations are processed through ASYCUDAWorld;
- All declarations are submitted to Customs in electronic format (100% DTI, Direct Trader Input);
- All customs regimes are implemented, including Transit and Warehousing;
- Customs officers are allocated for physical inspection automatically by the system (a strong anti-corruption measure);
- Updates of reference data (tariff etc.) made in the Customs Service Headquarters are automatically available in all Customs offices (an effective tool to apply the law nationwide in a consistent and effective manner);
- All customs declarations are automatically consolidated in the Customs Service Headquarters database and subsequently used to produce real-time accurate statistics.

Moldova Customs Service has also put in practice the Single Window system for export/import and transit operations in all border and inland Customs offices.