Norwegian Customs () is a Norwegian

government agency A government agency or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government (bureaucracy) that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, s ...

under the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

with responsibility for "protecting society against illegal importation and exportation of goods and to ensure government revenues by correct and timely payment of duties and

tax A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...

es". Since 2017, the agency has been run by customs director Øystein Børmer.

Organization

The agency is organized into a central directorate, The Directorate of Norwegian Customs (in Norwegian ''Tolldirektoratet''), and six customs regions. The directorate's role is to develop customs regulations, support of the customs regions, and to act as the point of contact for the public. The headquarters of the directorate are located in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. In addition to customs services, the agency is responsible for performing tasks on behalf of other government agencies at the border, for example border control.

History

Customs in Norway has a long history. Already during Harald Fairhair's reign (c. 865-933), customs were collected in the cities on behalf of the king on all imported and exported goods. Collection of customs continued through the

middle ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, but there were still no designated customs officers. During the 1500s, customs were mainly collected by the

lensmann in modern Norwegian or in Danish and older Norwegian spelling (; ) is a term with several distinct meanings in Nordic history. The Icelandic equivalent was a . Fief-holder The term traditionally referred to a holder of a royal fief in Denmark ...

, and by the 1630s a separate customs agency was established. Under Danish rule, Norwegian Customs were allowed to operate independently. Closer to the end of the union, the amtmenn (who were selected by the Danish king) had a supervisory role over the customs offices. Following Norway's

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

in 1814, the customs offices were under the control of different ministries, before it finally was put under the control of the Ministry of Finance in 1818. From 1929 to 1956

Wilhelm Ohlandt Wilhelm Ohlandt (15 October 1886 – 8 December 1958) was a Norwegian civil servant. He served as a deputy under-secretary of state in the Norwegian Ministry of Finance The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Finance (Norwegian language, Norwegian: Fina ...

was head of the customs department. In 1957, the customs service was centralized into one agency, The Norwegian Directorate of Customs, which in 1974 changed its name to The Norwegian Directorate of Excise and Customs. In 2015, the role of collecting

excise file:Lincoln Beer Stamp 1871.JPG, upright=1.2, 1871 U.S. Revenue stamp for 1/6 barrel of beer. Brewers would receive the stamp sheets, cut them into individual stamps, cancel them, and paste them over the Bunghole, bung of the beer barrel so when ...

and

Value-added tax A value-added tax (VAT or goods and services tax (GST), general consumption tax (GCT)) is a consumption tax that is levied on the value added at each stage of a product's production and distribution. VAT is similar to, and is often compared wi ...

was transferred to the

Norwegian Tax Administration The Norwegian Tax Administration () is a government agency responsible for resident registration (''National Population Register'') and tax collection in Norway. The agency is subordinate to the Ministry of Finance and is based at Helsfyr in Oslo. ...

. Following this change, the name was changed to Customs Norway.

Customs regions

*Customs region of Oslo and Akershus,

*Customs region of Eastern Norway,

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a List of cities in Norway, city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipal ...

*Customs region of Southern Norway,

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...

*Customs region of Western Norway,

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

*Customs region of Central Norway,

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

*Customs region of Northern Norway,

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

References

External links

www.toll.no
Official site
About Norwegian Customs

Customs Clearanceemma.no

Customs Services Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...

Customs Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...

Norw {{Norway-stub