Bulgarian cabinet to criminalise customs violations, tighten control on gambling

The Bulgarian cabinet will introduce amendments to the Criminal Code to criminalise customs violations. "We are tightening customs controls, while smuggling will become a serious criminal offence,” Prime Minister Rumen Radev said at the beginning of the government meeting on September 23.

According to the prime minister, customs violations have so far been treated as administrative offences, while there has been no political will to change this over the years.

“The provisions we are proposing strike at one of the most lucrative areas of organised crime: the movement of goods across the EU’s external borders to the detriment of European and national finances,” Radev said.

“The law will apply not only to smugglers and rank-and-file customs officers, but also to so-called ‘on-call officials’ within the customs administration who deliberately turn a blind eye to such violations,” the prime minister explained.

Radev also announced that the government would introduce an effective blanket ban on gambling advertising, with the sole exception of advertising supporting sport through branding on sportswear and sports facilities.

He said a new, much stricter model for regulating and monitoring the gambling sector would be introduced, aimed at greater transparency, fairer taxation and curbing gambling addiction.

The prime minister also said that a substantial increase in the tax on online gambling was planned, alongside mechanisms to channel part of the resulting revenue towards sport and education.

All foreign operators licensed to operate in Bulgaria will be required to register as financial entities in the country, Radev explained.

Edited by Ivo Ivanov