Estonian Tax and Customs Board to be entitled to supervise petroleum products at sea

TALLINN – The Estonian government is about to discuss a bill on Thursday that would add the Tax and Customs Board to the list of supervisory authorities for handling hazardous and harmful substances at sea, the Narva River and Lake Peipsi in order to enhance the customs supervision of petroleum products.

The Ministry of Finance believes that the customs service must be able to analyze the risks associated with the transshipment and bunkering of hazardous and harmful substances from ship to ship in order to plan the necessary inspections. The electronic marine information system will give the supervisory authorities three or two working days' notice of the pumping or bunkering of a hazardous substance.

Currently, the supervisory authorities are the Environmental Board, the Transport Administration and the defense forces.