SLOVENE CUSTOMS SERVICE SAYS TRAFFIC ON BORDER CROSSINGS WILL NORMALISE

LJUBLJANA, May 4 (Hina) - Long lines of trucks which were waiting on Monday and Tuesday for customs control on the Croatian-Slovene border were the result of the introduction of a new computerised transit system (NCTS), which failed several times in the first days of May, as well as of some other factors, the Slovene Customs Administration reported today.#L# Brane Greganovic, head of the office of Customs Administration chief Franc Kosir, told Hina that the situation was better today and that trucks were waiting to cross the border into Slovenia for four hours on average. The situation is slightly more difficult at the border crossing Gruskovje-Macelj, with delays of five and more hours, because the crossing still lacks the necessary infrastructure. The Slovene customs service is somewhat surprised by the large number of freight vehicles which have been passing this border crossing since May 1. Slovenia got the new computer system, which is linked to customs services throughout Europe, last year, after Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and it took some time to put it into operation because of numerous new elements. Greganovic said that cooperation with Croatian customs services on the local level was more than good. The head of the Slovene Customs Administration, Franc Kosir, who was unavailable for comment, told the Slovene press that delays on the border were caused by the new computer system which envisaged electronic submission of customs documents, adjusted operation of shipping agents and the customs administration, and observance of customs and other regulations on the united European market. Kosir said that the customs procedure was slow also because there was not enough customs officers. (Hina) rml