Latvia's Customs Scares with Problems That Will Arise After Mass Layoffs of Employees 0 20

The budget of the State Revenue Service (SRS) for the next year will be cut by 10%, and the number of employees will be reduced by 13.2%. The customs administration will eliminate 105 positions, including nine managerial ones. Approximately half of these positions are already vacant — there are currently no employees in these roles.

Most of the customs checkpoints are located on the eastern border of the country, which is also the border of the European Union. According to available information, up to 50 customs officers may lose their jobs in Latgale. To maintain control, some round-the-clock checkpoints will only be able to operate during daytime shifts in the future.

Sandra Karklina-Admin, Deputy Director of the SRS Customs Administration, indicated that the railway stations in Rezekne and Daugavpils, where incoming and outgoing trains are monitored, will no longer operate at night. The staff reductions will primarily affect resources in Daugavpils and Paternieki.

The expected cuts will have less impact on the Grebneva and Terekhovo checkpoints, as there is already a shortage of workers there. In certain shifts at Grebneva, there are only five to six customs officers working, which is insufficient, the administration staff reported.

The administration also admits that entrepreneurs' costs may increase, as the processing of goods, whose control is not completed by 8:00 PM, will continue only the next day, which will lengthen the process.

Currently, an assessment of employees is underway to determine who will be laid off, and it will last until the end of November. At the same time, the SRS management does not rule out that some customs officers may need to be hired back in a few months, reports LTV.