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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Hotline for reporting violation of customs regulations opens

Belgrade, 14 December 2005

PR Manager of the Customs Administration Snezana Kondic announced today that, as of the beginning of 2006, this institution is starting a project themed "Open customs telephone line". The line, which will be open 24 hours a day, will enable citizens to report any offence against customs regulations, as well as smuggling or corruption cases.

At a press conference Kondic said that this project has been financed by the European Union’s Customs and Fiscal Assistance Office (CAFAO) and explained that citizens will be able to report any kind of irregularities perceived in the work of customs officers free of charge by calling the number 064/732.

The project themed "Open customs telephone line" has been started with the aim of enabling safe, confidential and reliable communication between citizens and Customs Administration employees, said Kondic.

Head of the Interior Control Department Dejan Carevic listed an insufficiently developed system of control, inefficient disciplinary measures, inadequate training of customs employees and the existence of different categories of property as the most common causes of violation of customs regulations and corruption.

Carevic said that the Serbian Customs Administration closely implements the strategy for fight against corruption and supported this claim by saying that in the last two years this institution has taken disciplinary action against 200 customs officials and filed criminal charges against 15 of them for breach of duty.

He explained that the Customs Administration has hired experts previously employed by the Army of Serbia-Montenegro, the police, the Serbian Security and Intelligence Agency (BIA), the judiciary and prosecution, with the view to more efficient prevention of corruption.

Director of Belgrade Customs Office Ivan Petrovic said that the introduction of electronic submission of customs documents not only shortened the data input in the customs information system, but also narrowed the opportunities for corruption.