BERLIN: Germany’s customs authority is so understaffed that it’s at risk of failing to fulfill core tasks that include combating money laundering, insiders say.
It has 40,000 staff but needs 3,500 more, the head of its trade union, Dieter Dewes, told Handelsblatt. “I see a risk that it won’t be able to do its job because of the staff shortage,” he said. The Federal Audit Office, currently reviewing the authority’s work, agrees that it needs more staff, according to sources.
The problem is that the customs authority has been saddled with increasing responsibilities in recent years. In addition to collecting tariffs and monitoring the flow of goods, its duties now also include curbing illegal employment, checking whether firms are paying the statutory minimum wage introduced in 2015, collecting vehicle tax and combating money laundering. It will also be put in charge of collecting car road tolls in future.
“The customs administration is increasingly turning into a jack-of-all-trades operation,” said Florian Toncar, a lawmaker for the pro-business Free Democrats. “It lacks a clear definition of what tasks it should assume in the era of the European single market.
