To ensure compliance with customs legislation and to prevent fraud, the Customs Service applies various customs control procedures and tools. The Customs Service may carry out any customs control it deems necessary.

Customs controls may in particular consist of examining goods, taking samples, verifying the accuracy and completeness of the information provided in a declaration or notification, as well as the existence, authenticity, accuracy, and validity of documents, examining the accounting of economic operators and other records, inspecting means of transport, inspecting luggage and other goods carried by or on persons and carrying out official enquiries and other similar acts.

The customs control of goods shall be carried out in places specially designated for that purpose and during the hours appointed by the customs authority.

At the request of the declarant, the Customs Service shall approve the conduct of the customs control at places and at hours other than those mentioned above. In this case, all the costs related to such act shall be borne by the declarant.

Customs control, other than random checks, are mainly based on risk analysis. The Customs Service applies the risk management to identify the levels of risk associated with goods, including means of transport, and persons subject to customs control or customs supervision, and also to determine whether they have to be subject to specific customs controls and, if so, to establish the place where such control shall be carried out.

Thus, during the customs clearance process, customs control shall be applied according to the risk level established by the "ASYCUDA World" information system, which will allocate the customs declarations to one of the customs control lanes (green, blue, yellow, or red):

• the green lane – allows the customs clearance to be granted without performing the documentary and physical control of goods;
• the blue lane – allows the customs clearance to be granted without performing the documentary and physical control, providing that post-release control is carried out, based on the principle of selectivity, by means of re-verifying the customs declaration;
• the yellow lane – requires the documentary control, without carrying out the physical control;
• the red lane – requires the documentary and physical control.

I. Documentary control

When carrying out the documentary control, the documents attached to the customs declaration are subject to verification (at least the following mandatory documents: 1) invoice; 2) transport documents; 3) permissive documents required for permission of customs clearance). At the same time, additional documents confirming all the data indicated in the customs declaration and required for permission of customs clearance may be requested.  

The documents attached to the customs declaration must be presented to the customs authority in original; in the case of the electronic declaration, the documents shall be scanned and attached  to the customs declaration.

If the declarant holds the documents required for customs clearance completed in foreign languages, the customs authority may request the translation thereof.

The documentary control consists in verifying the followings: the correctness of completing the customs declaration in detail; the existence of the documents attached to the customs declaration in detail, according to the customs destination requested; the consistency of the data entered in the customs declaration and the data in the documents attached; the form of the documents attached.

II. Physical control

The physical control consists in verifying the goods and means of transport for the purpose of confirming the information about the nature, origin, status and quantity of the goods, the state of the seals, stamps and of other means of identification.

The physical control may be achieved by: identifying the goods, counting the places or packages, weighing, measuring, photographing, sampling, applying the special customs control equipment and other control tools for the purpose of confirming the data entered in the customs declaration and/or the accompanying documents thereto.

The customs authority may apply the following types of physical control of goods:

• partial (providing the verification of a part of the freight lot, in a volume sufficient to ensure compliance with the customs legislation);
• total (providing the verification of the entire freight lot). This is applied, in particular, in situations where there are solid indications of non-observance of the customs legislation in force or when the selectivity criterion expressly indicates to the necessity of checking the entire consignment, as well as in the situations where the risk analysis establishes that partial control will not be sufficient to ensure due compliance with the customs legislation;
• performed for the purpose of sampling for the expertise of goods.

The declarant and other holders of rights onto the goods and means of transport, as well as the representatives thereof shall assist in the control of the goods and means of transport and shall provide assistance to the customs authority in the conduct of the control activity.

The declarant or the representative thereof shall, at the request of the customs body, handle, unpack and repack the goods, without causing any damage thereto. The costs related to these operations shall be covered by the declarant.

In the event that the declarant fails to make himself/herself known within 10 days from the presentation of the goods, or the control cannot be postponed due to security reasons or due to other circumstances that do not support postponement, the customs shall carry out the control in the absence of the declarant, but in the presence of persons not interested in the control result.

Customs control implies the use of technical control means that do not present any danger to the health and life of humans, animals, and plants and that do not cause damage to the goods and means of transport. The customs hold a kit of non-intrusive customs control equipment (scanners, located at road, air, and, in a near perspective, railway border posts).

The customs is also endowed with customs laboratories, including mobile laboratories used for the physical-chemical analysis of goods, which are required for checking the accuracy of the declaration of goods. The customs laboratory is accredited for several tests and is specialized in the fields of textiles, alcohol, petroleum products, food.

The customs control shall be carried out within 5 calendar days after the receipt of the declaration and of the information required for customs control or, in the event of the physical control, after the presentation thereof to the customs authority. For the goods necessary in case of natural calamities, catastrophe or accident, as well as in the case of live animals, perishable goods, radioactive substances, mass information materials, the duration of the customs control shall be limited to 3 days.  

III. Subsequent control (post-clearance audit and reverification of customs declarations)
Subsequent control shall be carried through:

1. post-clearance audit
2. re-verification of customs declarations.

The main objectives of the subsequent control are as follows:

• to verify the correctness and completeness of the data entered in the customs declarations; to verify that the obligation to declare the goods or to provide information has been fully complied with; to verify that the regulations related to customs procedures have been applied correctly;
• to identify errors, to detect violations of regulations or fraud.

 Post-clearance audit

The post-clearance audit is a subsequent control of the goods, after customs clearance, which aims at verifying compliance with the legislation in force by the persons established in the Republic of Moldova at the time of moving the goods across the customs border of the Republic of Moldova and placing them under customs destination.

Post-clearance audit shall be carried out by applying the following control procedures:

1. planned control
2. cross-checks
3. unexpected control.

Post-clearance audit actions shall be carried out by applying the following control methods:

1. selective control
2. general control
3. electronic control.

1. Subject of the audit

The subjects of the post-clearance audit may be the persons defined in the Customs Code, who are, directly or indirectly, by way of business, involved in operations subject to the post-clearance audit, or the persons holding such documents and data for professional reasons, implicitly:

• any economic operator importing or exporting goods;
• customs brokers;
• warehouse managers;
• economic operators involved in customs procedures;
• any economic operator not carrying out import/export operations directly, but related, directly or indirectly, to such transactions.

2. Audit procedure

The post-clearance audit includes the following basic stages:  

Audit planning

The economic operators proposed for audit shall be selected based on risk analysis, as well as other categories of information available. The customs authorities shall develop the annual plan of subsequent controls. The control plan carried out through post-clearance audit is published on the website of the Customs Service and can be accessed at https://customs.gov.md/ro/articles/controlul-ulterior.

Prior information of the economic operator 

The post-clearance audit shall be carried out based on a control order. The audited person shall be informed about the audit in writing, at least 3 days in advance of the date of control initiation, except for unexpected checks. Prior notification is made in order to allow the economic operator to continue its current activity and to prepare to provide the audit team with adequate workspace, financial and accounting records, other data directly or indirectly related to the import/export of goods, storage areas of goods, etc.

Audit

The audit timeframe shall not exceed 2 months. This term may be extended by up to 4 months if appropriately grounded and justified documentary.

The audit shall be carried out by an audit team designated for this purpose and shall be conducted at the premises of the company during the working hours of the customs authority and of the person subject to control.

In the event that, during the audit process, the need occurs for establishing certain facts and circumstances based on documents or goods that are in the possession of a different person, with whom the audited person has or had economic and/or financial relationship, the customs authority shall be entitled, providing the issuance of a new control order, to carry out cross-checks.

The audit shall include the following:

• documentary control;
• verification of accounting records;
• physical verification of goods that are subject to controlled transactions;
• verification of warehouses; etc.

To clarify customs related issues, the audit team is entitled to request explanatory notes from any person who is directly or indirectly related to transactions that are the subject of the control, or who is in possession of documents, or who owns information related to thereof.

In the event that violations of the legislation have been identified during the audit process, the customs authority shall prepare a report on preliminary examination of post-clearance audit findings and shall inform the audited person on the legal consequences of respective violations. The audited person shall have the right to submit written objections to the findings.

The audited person shall have the right to submit in writing additional information and documents to the customs authority within 7 working days after the preparation of the report.

The results of the post-clearance audit shall be stipulated in the Post-Clearance Audit Act, which describes the legal violations and/or the level of correctness of calculation and payment of the customs obligation. In case of disagreement with the Act, the person shall have the right to submit, within 20 days from the date of receipt, in writing, the grounds for disagreement, by enclosing the required documents in accordance with the provisions of the Customs Code and other normative acts in the field. On the basis of this Act, the customs authorities shall undertake measures to calculate and collect the customs duties due. The Regularization Decision, which represents a security, shall serve as proof of occurrence of customs obligation.

 3. Obligations of the person under control

During the subsequent control process, the person subject to control shall have the following obligations:

1. to present to the Customs Service, at the first request, the goods acquired or held, the information, data, documents in any form necessary for verification;
2. to provide the Customs Service with access to its information systems in the situation where the information mentioned in letter a) is collected, processed, and stored in such information systems;
3. to provide the customs officers with free access to the headquarters, production areas, warehouses, and other spaces, except those used exclusively as home and residence, for the purpose of inspection;
4. to ensure the integrity of the seals applied by the Customs Service;
5. to assist the conduct of the subsequent control, to sign the documents related to the result of the subsequent control and, in case of disagreement, to submit, within 20 days, the grounds for disagreement, enclosing supporting documents thereto;
6. to ensure adequate conditions for the conduct of the post-clearance audit, to provide customs employees with an office, and to extend any assistance required;
7. to ensure the presence of a qualified representative to assist the customs officers in the conduct of the post-customs audit.

4. Reverification of the customs declaration

Reverification of the customs declaration is a form of subsequent control, which is carried out at the customs office and entails the verification, after release of goods, of the correctness and completeness of the data provided in the customs declaration, as well as of the existence and conformity of the attached justifying documents that are required for placing the goods under certain customs  destination, of other documents related to the verified transactions that are in possession of the customs authority, of a different body entitled with tax administration powers, or of other institutions and persons.

Reverification shall be carried out according to the risk analysis result. In the event that irregularities or violations of customs/fiscal legislation are detected upon completion of the reverification of one or more customs declarations, the officers designated to carry out the reverification shall prepare a presentation Note. Subsequently, upon approval, the report on the reverification of the customs declarations shall be drawn up and shall be communicated to the customs payer.

In the event that errors and/or discrepancies are detected between the data included in the customs declarations and the data in the verified documents, which lead to the appearance, modification and/or cancellation of the customs obligation, the customs authority shall communicate the customs payer thereon by drawing up the report of reverification of the customs declarations.

In the event that a customs violation is detected that gives rise to a customs obligation and non-fulfillment of the legal requirements of the declarant, the customs authority shall prepare a regularization decision.

In situations where the reverification of customs declarations is carried out based on documents available to the customs authority or received from other authorities or persons, in accordance with legal provisions, as well as where the signing of the report of the reverification of customs declarations is refused, or where the person cannot be found, the report shall be signed by only the customs officer who carried out the reverification of the customs declarations. In such cases, the report on the reverification of the customs declarations shall be brought to the notice of, and thus shall be communicated to the person whose declaration / declarations have been reverified, by registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt.

Legislation:

Customs Code of the Republic of Moldova no. 95/2021

Government Decision no. 92/2023 on enforcement of Customs Code no. 95/2021