BERLIN: The German Government has completed a restructuring of the federal customs administration.
The new Central Customs Authority (Generalzolldirektion, or GZD) was launched on January 1 and has taken overall control of customs administration, including the functions carried out by the former customs authorities and the customs-related activities previously carried out by the Ministry of Finance.
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said that as a result of the reorganization the customs administration will become “even more efficient.”
“The new Central Customs Authority is taking over operational control of the customs administration, replacing the existing intermediate authorities. In this way, decisions will reach the local level more quickly. This benefits citizens as well as businesses. It means they will have even better service and greater security than in the past.”
The new authority is headquartered in Bonn and has regional offices in Hamburg, Potsdam, Cologne, Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Nuremberg, and Münster.
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