ABSTRACT
The Customs Department was to be one of the principal agencies of Government to be affected by membership and the success of that transition was vital as joining the European Union (EU) rested upon integration into the Customs Union. European integration was based upon the creation of a customs union amongst the European Economic Community (EEC) members as a means to increase prosperity and guard against the rivalry which had consistently plunged the continent into war. Membership of the European Union (EU) represented the continuation of change at the Maltese Customs Department which had started in the early 1990s and which constituted the shift from the collection of taxes and the enforcement of controls to the facilitation of trade and control, especially inland controls. In particular Malta's Customs legislation was amended and a consolidated Customs Code, consistent with the acquis, was introduced at the end of 2001.
