The Bulgarian customs administration is a centralized administrative structure, organized within National Customs Agency (NCA) under the Minister of Finance. NCA is a legal person financed by the state budget. NCA is managed and represented by a Director General who is assisted by four Deputy Directors.

The overall function of NCA is the performance of customs supervision and control of the customs territory of Bulgaria. NCA consists of a four-layer structure:

 

  • The Central Customs Directorate (CCD), located in Sofia, currently divided in two physical locations. During 2003, both NCA offices will move to a new Customs Headquarters building.

       

  • The Regional Customs Directorates (RCD), currently five (5), located in the main cities of the country.

       

  • The Customs Houses (CH), currently seventeen (17), which handle the majority of the clearance processing (approximately 60-70%).

       

  • Customs Offices and Border Points, currently hundred two (102).

NCA currently employs 3,826 Customs officers and supporting staff. The functions and structure at each layer are as follows:

  • CCD - overall functions of CCD are to organize, manage, control and report about the activities of the customs administration. To cover these functions CCD consist of the following Directorates - Customs regimes and procedures, Tariff Policy, Post Clearance Control, Central Customs Laboratory, Customs Intelligence and Investigation, Customs Statistics and Automation, European Integration and International Cooperation, Administrative- legal and Information Service, Finance- economic activities and property management, Inspectorate.

 

  • RCD - overall functions of RCD are to organize, manage, control and report about the activities of the customs houses included in RCD structure. To cover this functions RCD consist of departments, which have the same name and functions as CCD directorates, but at the regional level.

 

  • Customs Houses - overall functions of CH are to organize, manage, control and report about the activities of the customs offices and border points included in CH structure and together with them to perform customs supervision and control. To cover this functions Customs Houses consist of the following departments: Customs regimes and procedures, Tariff Policy, Customs Statistics and Automation, Customs Intelligence and Investigation, Customs Intelligence and Investigation of Drug Traffic, Administrative- legal and Information Service, Finance- economic activities and property management, Inspectorate.

 

  • The Customs Offices and Border Points are operative units performing customs supervision and control.