The Spanish Tax Agency has carried out the biggest restructuring of powers in its Customs and Excise Duties area in the past decade
The State Tax Administration Agency (AEAT) has carried out the biggest restructuring of powers in its Customs and Excise Duties area in the last decade. The new directive deeply modifies organisational structures in force since 2021 to align them with the auditing criteria of the EU Customs Code and with the toughening of international penalties. The reform centralises major energy-control strategic decisions in the National Office, while granting regional delegations that manage the customs facilities in Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife an unprecedented operational flexibility.
The Ministry of Finance justifies this reorganisation by the need to speed up the inspection response in a changing regulatory environment, shaped by Brussels guidelines on trade restrictions and the fight against tax fraud. The new administrative setup redraws the distribution of functions in Canary ports, which are considered critical because they are the EU’s external border and key logistics hubs for international maritime provisioning.
Energy concentration in Madrid and allocation of EORI numbers
The core of the operational change directly affects hydrocarbon traffic, a strategic business for the islands’ ports. The National Customs Management Office assumes exclusive responsibility for processing advance authorisations for temporary exemptions linked to the European regulation on the phased elimination of imports of natural gas and oil of Russian origin. This centralisation removes from the Canary delegations the power to assess energy-related applications from operators, unifying the inspection criterion in Madrid to shield international financial penalties.
The National Office also takes over management of the Economic Operator Registration and Identification number (EORI) for companies not established in the EU customs territory that submit applications for trade mark intervention or specific authorisations. However, the Regional Areas of Management in the islands will retain the ordinary power to assign EORI numbers to corporations established in the archipelago and to foreign operators that file their first customs declaration on island territory, ensuring the dynamism of physical commercial transactions at local docks.
Inspector powers for regional technical offices and anti-smuggling control
The AEAT Presidency resolution introduces a significant shift in the hierarchical structure of control and investigation within Canary offices. The heads of the Customs Technical Offices in the islands will now formally be considered Chief Inspectors. This legal recognition gives local technical managers the capacity to validate inspection reports, initiate high-value sanction proceedings, and coordinate complex customs investigations directly without the need for express delegation from central services.
These regional units assume strengthened powers in investigating smuggling and pursuing infringements linked to external trade regulations beyond the strict customs remit, such as phytosanitary restrictions or security checks for industrial products imported from third countries. In addition, the Regional Control and Investigation Areas will handle, directly and through to a decision, requests for repayment and remission of customs debts governed by the EU Customs Code, provided the files were originally settled by their own inspectors.
Customs Surveillance handles flagrante delicto offences at the quay
In terms of security and fiscal protection of free zones and commercial docks across the archipelago, the reform draws operational boundaries when criminal offences are detected. The new arrangement states, in a binding manner, that if a flagrante delicto offence is detected during routine inspections of containers or luggage, the instruction of the corresponding police report will preferentially fall to officials of the Customs Surveillance Corps assigned to the facility. The measure clarifies the allocation of responsibilities with the Forces and Security Bodies of the State in Canary terminals, speeding up the judicial processing of contraband consignments and goods fraud in the port areas authorised for that purpose.
Organisational flexibility also extends to the Customs Administrations at Canary facilities, which take over direct control of loading and the tax exemptions applied to the provisioning and equipment of foreign vessels—an intensive commercial traffic in the ports of Las Palmas and Tenerife. The new AEAT design also enables the permanent deployment of decentralised technical teams to terminals and temporary storage zones on the islands. The Ministry of Finance seeks to use this physical deployment to prevent administrative bottlenecks in import and export declarations, strengthening the logistical agility of the Canaries against anti-terrorism controls and international security inspections of goods.
The article “Vigilancia Aduanera gane peso en los puertos de Canarias tras la reforma de la AEAT” was first published on encanarymaritime.com.
