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Finnish Customs

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Finnish Customs
Tulli/Tull
Agency overview
FormedFebruary 12, 1812
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdictionFinland
Specialist jurisdiction
Operational structure
HeadquartersHelsinki
Parent agencyMinistry of Finance
Website
tulli.fi/en/frontpage Edit this at Wikidata

The Finnish Customs (Finnish: Tulli, Swedish: Tull) is the customs service of the Republic of Finland. It is a government agency steered by the Ministry of Finance. The Finnish Customs is a part of the customs system of the European Union and has around 1,900 employees.[1]

History

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Customs warehouse building on Katajanokka in Helsinki, Finland (1908)
The Finnish Customs demonstrating drug detection with the dog Eka (1971)

On February 12 1812, the founding of The General Customs Directorate of the Grand Duchy of Finland was approved by Alexander I of Russia as the Grand Duke of Finland. By the 1850s, customs duties' share of total state tax revenue was over 40 percent. The directorate was renamed the Board of Customs in 1881. The customs service of the Grand Duchy of Finland was autonomous from the customs service of the Russian Empire, and thus the transition to the customs service of an independent Finland in 1917 was smooth.[2]

Customs duties formed the backbone of the Finnish state economy until the 1930s, but the fiscal importance of duties has decreased drastically due to the international reduction or elimination of trade barriers since the 1950s. Finland joined the EU and its Customs Union in 1995, but this caused no significant challenges for Finnish Customs.[2]

Current activities

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The tasks of Finnish Customs include the facilitation of the trade in goods, the protection of society and the environment, and the collection of customs duties, charges and taxes on import goods. It also compiles the official statistics on international trade.[1]

An X-ray scanner truck at the Nuijamaa border crossing
Finnish Customs patrol boat in Helsinki (2009)
Volkswagen Transporter patrol unit of the Finnish Customs

Directors

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Information about Customs". Finnish Customs. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  2. ^ a b "200 years of Finnish Customs". Embassy of Finland, Athens. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
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