Customs duties were among the earliest fiscal charges levied on commodities. In Sweden there is documentary evidence showing that this was the case as early as the 12th century. When speaking of Customs duties today we usually mean charges levied on foreign trade. The year 1636 is an important one in the history of the Swedish Customs Service. In the middle of the 17th century Sweden was in dire need of safe state revenues. The very able Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna noted in a letter in 1635: The only source of income we can rely on is Customs duties and the following year a regular Customs organisation was instituted. The State took a firmer grasp of the foreign trade and thus Stora Sjötullen , or the Great Sea Toll , was established.

An official called Mårten Augustinsson, later ennobled as Leijonsköld, was appointed as Collector General of Customs and the Service thus had received its first regular Head.

A State Ordinance restricted the number of cities allowed to engage in foreign trade and shipping. In the beginning only seven cities received the right to function as staple entrepots, namely Stockholm, Nyköping, Norrköping, Söderköping, Västervik, Kalmar and Gothenburg. Later on, from the middle of the 17th century, further cities were added to the list.

In the new Customs procedure the most important reform was the so-called entrance system. It was originally developed by a Dutch official in Swedish service, Pieter Spiering, at the river mouths of the overseas territories occupied by Sweden on the southern shores of the Baltic Sea. At the entrance stations, i.e. Customs posts established as far out as possible on the coastline, all shipping had to call and submit to Customs examination. The idea was that the levying of duties should take place as early as possible, in order to render smuggling more difficult, when ships, on their way to inland ports of destination, had to pass through fairways between the countless islands and skerries, so characteristic of the Swedish coastline.

At the entrance stations Customs officers inspected the holds, checking if the cargo carried tallied with the items entered in the Bill of Lading. When the ship later berthed at its port of destination and the Customs warehouse, the cargo was discharged, unpacked and the duties finally assessed. . The entrance station system was revised and modified a number of times over the years but only abolished in 1928.

In 1974 a new, simplified two stage Customs procedure was instituted. Approved business enterprises could now have their goods released and put at their disposal, without previous Customs examination and assessment of Customs duties. The levying was in stead based upon the particulars an importer entered in his final Customs declaration, submitted after a stipulated period of time.

The Swedish fiscal system based on domestic trade, called Lilla Tullen (the Little Toll or Inland Toll) was instituted in 1622. Excise was levied on all commodities that can be eaten, worn out or wasted, conveyed to marketplaces or towns, to be consumed or sold there. The Excise Tariff stipulated that 1/32 of the value of the goods, or 3 percent, had to be paid. The charge was to be paid in cash. Towns were enclosed behind fences, the heights of which were determined by their topographical location. Special Custom houses and Customs gates were erected at the approaches to towns. The Little Toll was claimed to be fair. The peasantry had to pay duty for what they intended to sell at the market. The town-dwellers had to pay duty for the products they brought in from their own cultivation outside the boundaries of the town, in spite of the fact that their aim was not to sell them, but consume them. The clergy had to pay for their tithes and not even noblemen were exempted from paying, which people at that time found most extraordinary. The Little Toll was finally abolished in 1810.

A rather unflattering account of the behaviour of some Little Toll officials can be found in a famous private diary, kept by Märta Helena Reenstierna, an entry made May 21 1802.

We started on our way home, but had to wait for three quarters of an hour at the upper gate at Tanto (in the southern part of Stockholm), wretchedly clamouring to be let through. We would never have got out if Fate had not intervened in the form of six local inhabitants emerging from Tanto to help us. Two gentlemen finally went in and dragged out the Customs snooper, who was drunk and abusive. At the lower Tanto gate conditions were not much better and thus we didn't reach home until 12 o'clock at night.

(This text was copied from www.tullverket.se)