The Customs Service is headed by a Director, assisted by one or more Deputy Directors. The number of Deputy Directors is decided upon by the Government, at the proposal of the Minister of Finance.
Structure of the customs system:
- Central Administration - institution that ensures coordination and monitoring of the customs activity at national level; drafts customs regulations; ensures the process of management and institutional development; ensures representation of the Customs Service in relations with other public authorities, the business community, society, as well as external parties.
- Customs offices - territorial units of the Customs Service that ensure compliance with customs regulations in their area of competence. The customs system includes 3 customs offices: Northern, Central and Southern Customs Offices.
- Customs posts - territorial units subordinated to a customs office, which ensure the collection of import duties, application of procedures provided by the customs regulations, customs clearance and customs control. The customs posts ensure the submission of customs documents for road, rail, naval, river, air transport, as well for as postal items. The structure of customs posts includes border customs posts (at the Moldovan-Ukrainian and Moldovan-Romanian state border) and internal customs posts.
Since 2017, the Customs Service has been working in line with a new organisational chart, resulting from the institutional reform promoted and implemented in 2016. During the reorganisation process, the number of customs offices was reduced from 7 to 3, and the staffing structure was optimised by 12%. The dynamics of the implemented reform also reflected on the new management principles. Thus, the reorganisation of the Customs Service aimed at developing an institutional structure capable of ensuring efficient customs administration at both strategic and operational levels, creating a reasonable framework for organising the customs authority, with an optimal ratio between managerial and executive positions, and clear delimitation of responsibilities for each subdivision.
During the reorganisation, special attention was paid to the assessment of staffing needs at border crossing points in order to ensure a smooth flow of people and vehicles. In this context, the reform envisaged the strengthening of execution positions at the expense of management. At the same time, the modernised structure ensures a mechanism for a better collaboration between the Central Administration and the customs offices, as well as an efficient system of internal control.
