23.01.2014

"The new Ordinance on the Specific Requirements and Customs Authorities' Control of the Excise Goods Measuring Devices has been drafted after an analysis of its practical implementation in the period after its issuance in 2010 until the summer of 2013". This is what Deputy Minister of Finance Lyudmila Petkova said at the presentation of two new ordinances on fighting tax fraud aimed at enhancing customs control of excise goods and introducing fiscal control of high-risk goods.

The analysis of the implications from the implementation of Ordinance No 3 of 2010 has shown the lack of an overall concept of the control exercised on the sites where excise goods are entered, produced, stored and exited by measuring and control devices, added Mrs. Petkova. An administrative burden for the business has been found out and the costs of both the economic operators and the customs administration have been increased. The Ordinance consists of a number of vague and overlapping provisions, which leads to legal uncertainty. The information collected by the points of control was voluminous and variable and in fact could not be used by the Bulgarian Customs Agency for preventive control. Mrs. Petkova announced that the effective Ordinance had not achieved its main goal, namely to increase the quantities of excise goods for which an excise duty was paid to the budget.

She gave an example for the ineffectiveness of Ordinance No 3 of 2010 - analysis of the quantities of tobacco products for which an excise duty had been paid shows a trend of reduction in the quantities after the entry of the Ordinance into force.

The new Ordinance takes account of all recommendations made in the analysis in order to remove the ineffective texts the provisions were discussed with industry organisations in the various sectors of excise goods, added the Deputy Minister of Finance. She specified that it was envisaged to install measuring and control devices in warehouses or other sites in the following points of control: upon entry, production, storage and exit of excise goods.

Mrs. Petkova also presented the new draft Ordinance on the Fiscal Control of Goods of High Fiscal Risk effective as from 1 January 2014 in accordance with the amendments to the Tax Insurance Procedure Code. The Ordinance lays down clear-cut rules and procedures for effective fiscal control of the National Revenue Agency bodies. Deputy Minister Petkova said that for 20 days 2,237 vehicle inspections were made and 172 measuring and control devices were installed to prevent any tax fraud practices and the compliance of goods by type and quantity was checked at the place of their receipt. The effectiveness of control is to be enhanced with the aim to check only vehicles shipping goods of high fiscal risk. At the border points foreign carriers can currently receive information leaflets in six languages informing of the fact that fiscal control is exercised on the country's territory.