The national institutional system with competence in administering customs duties

• Author: Ramona Ciobanu
• Position: Law Department, Transilvania University of Brasov
• Pages: 181-188

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 8 (57) No. 2 - 2015

THE NATIONAL INSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM

WITH COMPETENCE IN ADMINISTERING

CUSTOMS DUTIES

Ramona CIOBANU1

Abstract: Customs duties are budgetary revenues, but also important

instruments in streamlining international trade. There are several types of

customs duties, but their contribution in terms of value to the establishment

of public funds is rather negligible. The attributions of the customs

authorities are the customs control of goods and people, the establishment

and collection of taxes due, fighting crime or, to put it differently, the

enforcement of customs duties. Romania has joined the movement to

liberalize world trade by ratifying numerous international conventions and

harmonizing its legislation with the one of the European Union, whose

member it is.

Key words: customs duty, customs tariff, customs authority.

1 Law Department, Transilvania University of Braşov.

1. The customs duty. Definition and

classification

Customs duties represent a category of

indirect taxes, included in the special

consumption taxes, which are levied on the

goods crossing the state border. They are

an indirect contribution as they are paid by

legal entities and / or individuals who, in

the commercial transactions, import or

export goods or transit with these the

customs border of a state. Instead, these

taxes are borne by the final consumer, their

amount being found in the market price of

products constituting or containing goods

for which duties were paid [1], [3], [5].

Customs duties are defined in the

literature [6] as those levy funds, collected

by the state when the goods cross the

border for import, export or transit. They

are part of the public revenue, being

instruments setting the customs regime.

From the legal point of view, they

represent financial-budgetary obligations.

Regarding the name of customs duty, in

the literature it was stated that this should

be considered a linguistic archaism, dating

from the period of trade relations when

financial obligations had a fiscal function

and their differentiation made no

importance [2].

The author does not specify what would

be the name to use in this respect. Probably

the one of customs tariff if we consider the

terminology of the General Agreement on

Tariffs and Trade whose target was to

eliminate the tariff barriers in the

international trade or the EU Customs

Code that uses the concept of customs

tariff parallel to the one of customs duty.

Customs duties are classified according

to several criteria. Thus, according to the