The Agency

The Customs and Monopolies Agency - established by Legislative Decree No. 300 of 30 July 1999 ;is one of the three tax agencies that carry out technical and operational activities formerly pertaining to the Ministry of Finance. It is a public entity with legal status and wide regulatory, administrative, patrimonial, organizational, accounting and financial autonomy. From 1 December 2012 - pursuant to Decree Law No. 95 of 6 July 2012 ;(converted into Law No. 135 of 7 August 2012) - the Customs Agency has incorporated the Autonomous Administration of State Monopolies, changing its name to Customs and Monopolies Agency. In April 2018, the Ministry of Economy and Finance gave the green light to undertake a radical restructuring of the Agency’s organization, functions and mission while providing that the functional division between the Customs and Monopoly Areas would be finally removed.

Objective

The Statute has come into force on April 26, 2018, and defines the Agency’s mission into four general objectives.

  1. ADM fosters Italy's economic growth by facilitating the movement of goods in international trade.
  2. ADM contributes to domestic tax regulation and works to protect the financial interests of the country and of the European Union as a whole, providing for the collection of specific taxes and combatting tax evasion and fraud, including via the use of tax and judicial police powers.
  3. ADM exercises the role of overseer of the State with regards to gambling and tobacco, representing the interests of the Treasury through the collection of taxes, and protecting citizens’ rights through licensing and regulation.
  4. ADM contributes to public health and safety, controlling goods entering the European Union and combating criminal activity such as smuggling, counterfeiting, money laundering and illicit trafficking of weapons, narcotics, refuse, foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals not compliant with current health legislation.

ADM: Functions

ADM performs the following functions:

  1. administration of customs duties as well as internal taxation of international trade and excise duties, ensuring tax assessment, collection and litigation management;
  2. management of customs services with an eye to ensuring the application of the European Union Customs Code and of all measures including those relevant to agricultural policy and common commercial policy related to international trade;
  3. regulation and control of the gaming sector in Italy by ensuring that obligations be properly carried out by dealers and operators working in the sector and by fighting illegal gambling;
  4. management of the manufactured tobacco products sector as it concerns the collection of excise duties, retail price and product turnover. Supervision of tobacco products’ compliance with current National and Community legislation;
  5. the prevention of and fight against tax evasion and illicit extra-tax offenses within its areas of competence. To this end, in application of the directives issued by the Minister of Economic and Financial Affairs, ADM conducts risk analysis and database management, and carries out checks, verifications and investigations with the tax and judicial police powers assigned to it by law, as well as through collaboration with other national, local, European Union and international authorities and bodies that are institutionally responsible for the specific operational areas, including through the signing of specific memoranda of understanding;
  6. management of chemical laboratories, ensuring the balance between costs and benefits, including through the provision of specialized services to other entities, companies and individuals;
  7. provision of services in matters of its own authority to individuals, companies and other entities on the basis of legal provisions or conventional and contractual relationships;
  8. promotion and participation in associations and companies provided for in article 59, paragraph 5, of the Decree-Law.

How ADM operates: principles of administrative action

  • legality, transparency and impartiality of administrative action, in accordance with the principles of incompatibility as per legislative decree 8 April 2013, n. 39;
  • enhancement of management styles aimed at achieving results, a correct and profitable conduct of union relations, experimentation with innovative solutions in the field of equal opportunities and environmental sustainability, responsible decision-making, the development of cooperative relationships, awareness of the economic and social dimension of management decisions and the affirmation of the ethical sense of primary public ends;
  • decentralization of operational responsibilities, through a central internal and peripheral organization based on criteria of efficiency and flexibility;
  • simplification of relations with users by adopting procedures to facilitate the fulfillment of tax obligations;
  • facilitating access to services, including assistance and information, favoring the development of telematic communication channels and providing, in compliance with the criteria of economy and rational use of available resources, an adequate distribution of service facilities throughout the territory to users, while conforming to the provisions of Legislative Decree 14 March 2013, n. 33, at the same time;
  • strengthening the action of combatting tax and extra-tax offenses, as well as identifying different areas of intervention for the central, regional and local bodies of the Agency;
  • development of business planning methods and forms of work organization based on group interaction and on the activation of monitoring and evaluation of results for the purpose of flexible management of services and effective integration of activities.

 

Foto delle attività dell’Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli