The Tax Agency is in charge of a basic function for the correct functioning of public services in the broadest sense of the word. The importance of the purposes assigned to it requires that the Tax Agency have a dynamic character in its organization and operation.

Hence, always within the necessary stability of its general organizational framework, changes are periodically introduced in the structure, such as those made through the Resolution of January 13, 2021 on the organization and attributions of functions in the Customs and Taxes Area. Specials, in relation to the National Customs and Excise Investigation Office.

It is true that this is not an absolute novelty nor a breaker of the previous scheme, in which a National Office of Inspection and Investigation already existed in the organizational standards of the Customs and Special Taxes Area, but it does imply certain changes in the interest of greater effectiveness and efficiency in the daily work of your activity.

In this sense, although it may seem like a minor change, it is worth highlighting the direct dependence of the Office of the Directorate of the Department of Customs and Excise. With the mention in these lines we want to highlight the projection of the Office's activity to the investigation and control of fraud in all facets of the Customs Excise Area, thus surpassing its traditional link to the inspection function.

But without a doubt the essential objective of the organizational modification is the search for greater specialization of the Office's activity in what are investigative tasks in those sectors most prone to fraud or in which it reaches greater doses of severity and complexity. . In particular, the investigation of fraud with criminal relevance must constitute one of the backbones of all its activity.

Furthermore, it cannot be forgotten how, in addition to its ex lege obligation to ensure the correct application of the tax and customs system, the Tax Agency and more particularly within it the Customs and Special Taxes Area, assumes an obligation with the European Union to protect its financial interests at least to the same extent as national taxes, derived directly from the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

In this context, there is maximum concern within the European Union about the criminal dimension of fraud against its financial interests and the Directive on the fight against fraud that affects the financial interests of the Union through Criminal Law and the Regulations establishing the European Public Prosecutor's Office are good examples of this. To this extent, the investigation of frauds with criminal relevance and the specialization that underlies the powers assigned to the National Customs and Excise Investigation Office is aligned with current European trends, without forgetting the investigation in sectors traditionally affected by high levels of organized fraud in Special Taxes or more recently in Environmental Taxes.

Other relevant functions assigned to the Office are those related to the collection of information in a broad sense, those of international mutual assistance in the part related to taxes under the jurisdiction of the Customs and Special Taxes Area and the possibility, in specific cases, to directly carry out tax verification and settlement actions.