The Customs and Special Taxes Department of the Tax Agency is entrusted, among other powers, with the management and control of taxes on foreign trade, special taxes and environmental taxes. Another area of competence is related to the repression of smuggling, drug trafficking and money laundering.

Spain, along with the rest of the countries of the European Union, is part of a Customs Union. A territory without internal borders and with a single border with the rest of the countries in the world, that is, a merchandise is subject to the same controls and the same customs taxation if it is imported (or exported) by any country in the European Union. With the exception of some territories that are excluded due to their uniqueness, such as Ceuta and Melilla.

When a merchandise crosses the external border of the European Union, it is also subject to sanitary, phytosanitary, veterinary, commercial quality, medicines and medical products, defense of intellectual and industrial property controls or trade control of defense and double material. use, among others. The Customs and Excise Department ensures the execution of these control actions that guarantee citizens the quality and safety of the products, in close collaboration with the competent authorities in each matter.

The Department also carries out management actions and procedures and, where appropriate, intervention in Special Taxes and environmental taxes. Among the former, taxes on alcohol and alcoholic beverages, hydrocarbons, tobacco and electricity stand out. For their part, among the environmental taxes, the tax on fluorinated greenhouse gases, the tax on the production and storage of nuclear fuel and radioactive waste, or the tax on the extraction of natural gas, oil and condensate can be highlighted. There are also two recently created environmental taxes that will come into force on January 1, 2023, the special tax on non-reusable plastic packaging and the tax on waste disposal in landfills, incineration and co-incineration of waste.

The Department of Customs and Excise Taxes has the Customs Surveillance Service that is entrusted, among other powers, with the persecution and repression of smuggling (including drug trafficking), a task that is carried out throughout the national territory, including jurisdictional waters and airspace. In addition, the Customs Surveillance Service collaborates in the fight against money laundering and tax fraud in collaboration with other Departments of the Tax Agency.

In addition to these competencies, the Department regularly participates in international working groups and forums for coordination and development in the field of customs, for example within the European Union, but also in the World Customs Organization.

Very relevant activities for the national economy, especially if we look at the foreign trade statistics published last week, which show that imports during the first quarter of 2022 amounted to more than 56 billion euros, which represents an increase of 57 percent compared to the same quarter of 2021. In this economic scenario, the objective of customs to continue operating fluidly and to guarantee compliance with safety and quality standards becomes, if it was not already, of capital importance.

Madrid, May 19, 2022