Customs boss: changes will take a decade, not a year
The new head of customs, Pascal Lüthi, has been critical of the department's job role transformation process so far, saying that it lacks “clarity” and respect for the various duties, and that the pace is uncertain.
“The entire implementation will take a decade rather than a year,” said Lüthi.
The government decided in 2019 that customs officers and border guards should have the same job, meaning civilian customs specialists will also wear uniforms and be armed.
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The transformation was necessary, but management lost trust with the previous approach, Lüthi said in an interview with CH Media published on Tuesday. He succeeded Christian Bock as the new director of the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (FOCBS) at the beginning of the year.
According to Lüthi, there was no going back to two job descriptions, i.e. customs officer and border guard. “The new standardised job description of ‘customs and border security specialist’ is part of the vision that we are working on and implementing,” he said.
Adapted from German by DeepL/kp/jdp
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