New director general of customs appointed

Joseph Chetcuti has been appointed as the new Director General of Customs, within the Ministry for Finance, with effect from 1st April 2016.

Prior to this new post, Chetcuti held the position of Director of Excise. Under his helm, following the introduction of several ambitious and challenging initiatives, the Excise Directorate within the Customs Department saw its revenue increase by 60%.

The same improvement was experienced in the Express Freight Office which Chetcuti headed prior to his move to the Excise Directorate.

Born in Mosta, married to Jacqueline and father of Clara and Julia, Chetcuti has a 30-year experience in the Customs force.

In 1986, at the age of 22, Chetcuti commenced his career at Customs as a Customs Guard and he progressively followed an upward path till the day of his appointment as Director General. 

“The forward-thinking Director General is already stirring up change in the Department and is working on a comprehensive way how the Customs Department may better serve the needs of the growing consumer market,” the Customs said.

“He is also very keen in modernising the Department by applying a business strategy akin to that used in the private sector and underpinned by a customer-centric vision.”

Chetcuti, it added, strongly believed in evolving the Customs Department to better fit into a changing world conditioned by globalisation, with its main focus being trade facilitation. “However, this does not mean that, by doing so, the work which Customs performs, to protect the financial interests and to safeguard the security and health concerns of both Malta and the European Union, would be jeopardised.

“On the contrary, the Customs Department will be using its resources more efficiently and effectively in order to do that.  In this regard, the Department will be taking occasion during Malta’s EU Presidency, between January and June 2017, to bring to the fore Malta’s valid contribution on the international fora.”

Chetcuti pledged the Department’s strong commitment to continue to review its procedures in order to reduce administrative burdens on compliant traders without, at the same time, compromising the overall supply chain security.