National Customs Agency

On 13-14 June 2019 in Sofia, the 86th Informal Meeting of the Directors General of the customs administrations of the EU Member States and Turkey took place. The main topic of the meeting was ‘Customs today and beyond in the dynamic business environment’, and during the forum were discussed topics, related to the present level of development from the perspective of legislation, law-enforcement and use of IT systems in the area of customs, as directions for the future vision of development were given.
By tradition, at the forum the Directors General discuss strategic and priority issues, related to the policy of the Customs Union and to the customs cooperation at the EU external borders.
‘The changing business environment calls forth the way we see customs today and in the future’, stated the Director General of the National Customs Agency Mr. Georgi Kostov at the opening of the forum. ‘Customs has to be always on guard in order to perform their tasks and keep up with the rapidly changing trade. But from our customs business perspective, the most influential is the progress in digital technology that changes the products, processes and business models across all sectors of the economy, ultimately creating new industry structures.’ Kostov added.
Bulgaria took part in the 2005Directors General Club meeting (after the signing of the agreement for EU membership) and for the first time hosted the format in 2008. This year the hosting of the Bulgarian customs coincided with the 140-th anniversary of the institution.