2023-08-07 08:32:27
More than 80,000 clearances and around 9,000 checks carried out
Vienna (OTS) – While the operations of the Austrian customs officers at airports, at the borders with Switzerland and Liechtenstein, on the motorways, or the controls of parcel shipments are widely known, customs controls also take place at logistics locations where shipments from third countries to the European Union are cleared through customs . The task of the Austrian customs office is to look following companies involved in cross-border trade that use the port of Vienna as a transshipment point for goods and to carry out the necessary customs clearance. In 2022, around 81,500 customs declarations were processed at the Port of Vienna and almost 9,000 controls were carried out.
Finance Minister Magnus Brunner: “The port of Vienna is a complex place of work for the customs officers. The controls require a great deal of experience in order to be able to carry them out efficiently and in a risk-oriented manner. The variety of goods that are imported via this location means that our employees have to deal with ever new types of goods and topics. The large number of goods withdrawn from circulation shows how important not only the import control itself is, but also the importance of the high professional and at the same time personal commitment of the customs officers to the protection of people and the economy in Austria.”
Fourteen customs officers from the Northern Office are responsible for checking consignments at the Port of Vienna that are imported or exported in containers to or from the European Union. The customs officers are also supported in their checks by service dogs and mobile X-ray systems, with which entire containers are scanned. The northern department is also responsible nationwide for the coordination of market surveillance controls in the Austrian customs office.
1 million products phased out
An important issue related to controls is the area of market surveillance. This means that in the course of customs clearance, risk-oriented controls are also carried out on products imported into the European Union from third countries with regard to compliance with the existing rules on product safety and conformity. In 2022, to protect consumers, a total of more than 1 million products that did not comply with the harmonization regulations and standards might not be released for free circulation.
“In this area in particular, controls to protect the internal market are important in order to protect consumers from the consequences of goods that do not conform in terms of quality or are dangerous and to guarantee the required safety standard for these products. Compliance is particularly important, especially in the area of medical products, toys or electrical devices and vehicles, where non-compliance with safety standards can have particularly serious consequences,” says the head of the ZAÖ, Heike Fetka-Blüthner, emphasizing one aspect of her team’s work.
This importance is reflected in a few selected seizures of the past year: Among other things, 874,000 pieces of FFP2 masks, 18,000 pairs of medical disposable gloves or 852 e-scooters that did not meet the required standards were found during checks by the customs officers at the customs office in Vienna in 2022 and standards were safeguarded and kept away from the European internal market.
Questions & contact:
Federal Ministry of Finance, press office
(+43 1) 514 33 501 031
bmf-presse@bmf.gv.at
Johannesgasse 5, 1010 Vienna
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