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Jørn Rise has been a driving force in the Nordic collaboration through the Nordic Customs Organisation, and has had a great impact on the international scene. Two prominent Danish voices in Nordic customs cooperation are now retiring after several decades of work for colleagues in Denmark, the Nordic region and Europe. Ole Pedersen have through a third of a century edited the magazine and website for DTS, as well as being an international advisor for almost as long. At the congress of the Danish Customs and Tax Association (DTS), held at Nyborg Strand on 20–21 October 2026, Jørn Rise was honoured as he steps down after 35 years with the association, including 28 years as its undisputed president. Ole Pedersen, editor and chief adviser, is also retiring after 33 years within the Danish organisation. The Nordic Customs Organisation (NCO) extends its warm thanks to both of them for their contributions throughout their long careers. Jørn Rise and Ole Pedersen have played an important role in strengthening Nordic unity and promoting common interests among the Nordic customs organisations. NCO was established in 1923. With Jørn and Ole now stepping down, they have contributed to its work for approximately one third of the organisation’s history. This reflects the length and consistency of their commitment. Their work has been characterised by continuity, experience and a deep understanding of both national and Nordic challenges. In a field where conditions, regulations and responsibilities are constantly changing, such voices have been invaluable. Jørn Rise has left a lasting mark Jørn Rise is stepping down after 35 years with the Danish Customs and Tax Association, 28 of them as its leader. This unusually long period of trust reflects his strong position within the organisation. There is even possible that he is the longest sitting president of any labour union in Denmark, at least in the DTS history. As a token of appreciation, Johan Lindgren (in the middle) from TULL/KUST and Steinar Myhre Knutsen from Norsk Tollerforund, delivered speaches and gifts to the retireing president of DTS, Jørn Rise (on the left). As leader, he represented Danish customs and tax employees for many years. He also held important positions internationally, including chair of the customs committee and vice-president of the European organisation UFE, the Union of Finance Personnel in Europe. UFE serves as a voice for customs and tax employees in Europe in dialogue with the EU and represents approximately 400,000 employees. Most Nordic countries are members, with Finland currently being the exception. Through this work, Jørn Rise helped ensure that Nordic perspectives were part of the European debate. For customs and tax employees, this is about more than organisational work. It is also about highlighting the everyday realities, expertise and public responsibilities of employees working in an important public sector. An important professional force Ole Pedersen is retiring after 33 years with the Danish Customs and Tax Association. As editor and chief adviser, he has served as a communicator, adviser and custodian of knowledge. Such roles often receive less attention than formal leadership positions, but they are essential to ensuring direction and quality in organisational work. Editors and advisers help document developments, explain issues, keep members informed and build a shared understanding. Ole Pedersen has been a key contributor to Nordic cooperation for many years. His work has strengthened the ties between the organisations and helped facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experience across national borders. For the NCO, it has been important to have people who understand the history while also recognising the practical needs of everyday work. Ole Pedersen has represented precisely this kind of continuity. NCO recognises their contributions As an official expression of gratitude, both Jørn Rise and Ole Pedersen will receive the NCO Commemorative Coin of Honour at the next NCO Congress, witch is to be held i Stockholm in 2027. The honour coin is the NCO’s official symbol of recognition from the collegues in this Nordic professional community. The award acknowledges that their contributions have had significance beyond their own national organisations. As a lifetime achievement award (above 20 years of service in the NCO), they both receive the highest distinction. The NCO thanks Jørn Rise and Ole Pedersen for their outstanding efforts over all these years. Both have helped advance the interests of Nordic customs employees and keep cooperation between the organisations active and relevant. Nordic cooperation is built on relationships that endure over time. It requires people who show up, take responsibility and remain committed to the community even when issues are challenging. Jørn and Ole have done exactly that. Allen Christensen takes over DTS Following the congress, Allen Christensen was elected as the new leader of the Danish Customs and Tax Association. He succeeds a leader whose tenure lasted almost three decades. This brings both responsibility and opportunities. For Nordic cooperation, it will be important to maintain the close ties between the Danish, Icelandic, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish organisations and build on the work already accomplished. The NCO looks back with gratitude on the contributions of Jørn Rise and Ole Pedersen, and looks forward to continued cooperation with the Danish Customs and Tax Association under its new leadership.

During the UFE-congress 2026 the Nordic Customs Organization managed to draw focus towards the increasing threath from organized crime who flows Europe with Cocaine and all the violence and crime that follow in its footpath. Johan Lindgren from Swedish Tull/Kust is acting president of the NTO i 2026-2027 and hosted the NTO-meeting before the UFE Congress. Here he is in dialog with the Norwegian president of the Norwegian Customs Union, Karin Tanderø Schaug. The "Cocaine tsunami" which are hitting Europe hard has been an important topic for a couple of years, an has been widely discussed among the Nordic member unions in different arenas - now also at an Europen level. Annual NTO-meeting Before the UFE-congress there was a short NTO-meeting. In addition to share the national reports, preperation to the agenda for the UFE-congress was the main topics of this meeting. The political interest is growing in Sweden and in Norway, while Finland is struggeling while all attention goes towards the military build-up. Iceland reports that there is no particular interest about customs (Iceland has recently merged Tax and Customs), and the number of customs officers are decreasing from a all time high in 2017 with 123 vs only 93 today. At the same time as the drug traffic and drug and organized crime is also increasing in Iceland. In Denmark there is also a staff reduction in process, and this makes a critical resource situation even worse. There were more discussions about armament and as of today there is only in Sweden and Finland were all or some of the officers are armed. This is not on the agenda in Iceland or Denmark, while in Norway this is a growing concern amongst some political parties. Download the NTO agenda here: Cocaine threath is still increasing Karin Tanderø Schaug, president of the Norwegian Customs Union The increase of organized crime contiunes to be a concern to all the Nordic Countries, and a lot of the debate both at the NTO-meeting as well as at the UFE-congress was held about how the Customs can contribute to battle this, in cooperation with other governmental authorities. Karin Tanderø Schaug from the Norwegian Customs Union, held a presentation on behalf of all the Nordic unions about how the criminal organizations are adapting their routes from South-America and where in Europe their importing their contraband. Reports confirm that the amount of Cocaine is increasing each year, and they are constantly searching for the weakest link in Europe - inside or outside the EU. Download relevant documents: UN World Drug Report 2026 Experiences from merging Tax and Customs in Spain The Spanish delegation was unfortunately not able to attend, and they should held a presentation about their experiences from having one Authority for borth tax and customs, in many ways like in Denmark and Iceland. Here you can see that presentations: Committee report and honorary member This was the last UFE congress with two committes - the Tax committee and the Customs Committee, and both chairmen presented their committee reports to the General Assembly. This was also the last report from the chairman of the customs committee, Rob Roodenrijs, whom is now retireing. At the end of the congress, Rob was inaugarated as a honorary member of the UFE. Download the chairman report of the Customs committee: The General Assembly of the UFE congress 2026, in Vilamoura, Portugal New statutes A set of new statutes of UFE were decided on this congress. They are modernised and are now exclusivly in English. The working language in UFE will from now on be English, and this will also save expenses on translators. Another change is the Executive board. This is a replacement from what was the Presidium, and besides the President, all the others are now Board members. A consequence of this is that it will be only one vice-president - which will be elected from one of the Board members. The function of a vice-president is only to fill inn for the president if this is incapasitated for a longer period of time. I additons there will also be a Secretary General in the board - without a vote. Another change is that there is no longer a separate committee for the tax and another for the customs members, all member unions are now only members in the General Assembly. This is consistent with the reality for the latest congress periods. Download the new statutes here: The new Executive board: From left: Goncalo Rodriguez, Laslo Szabo, Dermot Brown, Sabina Portela, Florian Köbler, Steinar Myhre Knutsen, Karin Tanderø Schaug, Hanna Kilmik, Nuno Barroso, Joost Eveleens. Miguel Mayo was not present when this picture was taken. The executive board was elected as: President​: Florian Köbler​, DSTG (DE) Board Member​: Sabine Portela​ SFD (FR) Board Member​: Karin Tanderø Schaug​, NT (NO) Board Member: Dermot Brown, AHCPS (IR)​ Board Member​: Joost Eveleens, VHMF (NL)​ Board Member​: Lászlo Szabo​, VPDSZ (RO) Board Member​: Nuno Barroso​, APIT (PT) Board Member​: Goncalo Rodriguez​ STI (PT) Board Member​: Miguel Mayo​ GESTHA (ES) Board Member​: Steinar Myhre Knutsen​ NCO (Nordic Unions). The board will be constistuted at the first board meeting, where one of the members also will be elected as vice president. Hanna Kilimnik from DTSG is chosen as the Secretary General of the UFE (with no vote). Other motions and resolutions There were decided on several political resoultions during this congress and you can read the all below: Basic support for ViDA: Central EU solution: Accelerated implementation Personnel increase UFE as driving force​ EU customs reform and the platform economy BEFIT – supportive, but conditional Omnibus and DAC recast​ Two other resoulutions were dicussed and decided upon but there is no finished document to share as of now. These resolutions stated: Securing the next generation – resilient administrations​ 30–35 % of staff retire within a decade; entrance examinations are failed, young staff leave; pay competes with the private sector (UFE Atlas); staff face pressure from extremism and organised crime. Builds on the World Café 15.5.​ Decision: Binding staffing plans; competitive pay with the UFE Atlas as European reference; open career paths and protected learning time; knowledge transfer; modern working conditions; protection of staff; a European exchange programme – Working Group Workforce and Resilience to report in 2028.​ ​and Human-centric AI in tax and customs administrations​ AI is already used in risk scoring, case selection and fraud detection; ViDA, the Customs Data Hub and BEFIT will multiply the data. The AI Act classifies many of these systems as high-risk. In 2024 the Congress insisted: AI must assist staff, not replace them.​ Decision: Ten principles: augmented, not automated decisions · explainability as a rule-of-law requirement · no surveillance of staff · relief, not work intensification · participation from the start · qualification with protected learning time · sovereign and secure infrastructure · knowledge stays in the house – a UFE Charter on Human-centric AI by 2028.​ Priorities for the next two years: The General Assembly also decided on three motions which gives the new Executive board some task to work with in before the next congress in 2028. Motion 1: "The Exectuive Board shall before the next UFE-congress prepare a motion for: a revised Scaled and Phased Membership Fee Structure, based on tiered fee structure according to the scale of the organisations and phased fee structure for new Member Organisations.“ Motion 2: “The Exectuive Board shall before the next UFE-congress prepare a motion for: a set of Rules of Procedure for the UFE, to give guidelines to how the different bodies of the UFE shall conduct their duties.“ Motion 3: “The Executive Board shall during the next two years make it a prioritized task to: Map and identify prospective new member unions and/or professional organisations, and develop a pipeline for membership for those who are interested in a trial or ordinary membership in the UFE“. The UFE Atlas Florian Köbler presented the UFE Atlas, a a comparative study of 19 countries regarding pay, pensions and purchasing power in Europe’s tax and customs administrations​. This will be updated yearly and made available for the Members unions of UFE. This first study, with reference numbers from 93 sources in 2025 shows these initial findings: Europe’s spread is enormous​: For a line manager (profile P3) net lifetime income ranges from about €1.1 m to €6.5 m – a factor of 5.6; within the EU-27 still a factor of 3.9.​ Purchasing power reshuffles the ranking​: Adjusted for price levels, Spain and Italy move into the top group; the Nordic countries fall back despite high nominal pay.​ A crowded upper mid-field​: Switzerland and Luxembourg lead clearly; a group of seven countries sits within ± 15 % of the European median.​ Central and Eastern Europe closer than assumed​: Nominally far behind, but after PPS adjustment the gap narrows markedly; Hungary has the highest net replacement rate (80 %).​ Women gain lifetime income everywhere​: Purely through longer life expectancy at 65 – between +4 % and +9 %. Equal pay in active service does not offset the longer retirement phase; it complements it.​ Download the UFE Atlas here: The next congress fo UFE will be held in 2028 - location of the venue is still to be decided.

The Nordic Customs Organization are very concerned about the differences in political committments about the role the customs and border authorities have to preserve the day-to-day security and safety in our societies. From the left: Jari Ylönen (FI), Ingvi S. Johannsson (IS), Rainer Lindholm (FI), Jørn Rise (DK), Johan Lindgren (SE) and Karin Tanderø Schaug (NO). The congress started with a discussion about the financial and organizational challenges in the five different customs administrations. The directions that the five administrations are going in are diametrical different. In Sweden, and so far also in Norway, the governments are increasing their commitment and investments in the customs. While in Denmark they are on the brink of a new large downsizing. In a world with increased unrest, a changed and unstable geopolitical security situation, and a Nordic situation where organized crime is operating across the borders like never before - a downsizing is nothing short of intolerable! The first line of defense – against everything! The customs administrations and border authorities are every nations first line of defense. In the dire times we`re in, NCO will urge the Danish parliament and political decisionmakers to take action and do their part to uphold the security and social stability in Denmark. The NCO agreed on a joint statement where Denmark is encouraged to reconsider the budget cuts. The statement also works as a warning to the other Nordic countries that the focus on border security and sufficient funding and staff must continue. We cannot afford that the border administrations fail in ther social and public mission. Download or open the statement here: Director of "toldstyrelsen" - the customs director The meeting continued with each union presenting their national brief, and the danish customs director, Christian Lützen, adressed the NCO with his concerns about the challenges the customs are facing today and in the near future. This exchange of thoughts and ideas between management and unions is a good tradition in NCO, and shows that we more often than not, are on the same side. We have a common interest in developing our customs administrations as good as it can be. Even if the nordic customs directors have regularly meetings, the information that can be collected in a forum like this is quite uniqe. At gunpoint - armed officers or not Karin Tanderø Schaug from Norsk Tollerforbund delivering the national brief from Norway. Earlier this year, the NCO conducted a survey among the Nordic countries about what equipment and legislation they have to protect themselves and the public. There is a large variation. Sweden and Finland are the two nations that have implemented the most tools at this point. They both have handguns available, and also batons, Finland has non-lethal Taser-guns. All countries except Denmark, has some kind of defensive spray (pepper-spray). In Norway there are poltical voices who has started to raise the idea the the customs should be armed, but there is no decision made as of now. There is certainly a need to invest more in safety measures, defensive spray should be a bare minimum, but also more effective tools like Taser-guns is a non-lethal option that should be taken in to consideration in more coutries than Finland. The NCO discussed the topic and will follow the development closely. However all the unions made it clear that the most important safety measure is to have enough staff. There will be a follow up on this topis in the European organization, UFE, which most of the NTO-unions are members of. Read the summary of how the different administrations are armed here: A new shortcut to Europe Germeny in the horizon - at this location the new short-cut tunnel to Europe will be opened in 2029. Since the meeting were held in Køge, it was an oppertunity to visit the new tunnel-project Femern-Sund, which is a new connection between Denmark and Germany. The 18 kilometer log tunnel will replace the ferry between Rødby-Puttgarden with four lanes of motorway and high-speed railway thus shortening the time to travel between Europe and Denmark, and also further to Sweden an Norway. The tunnel is an uniqe project with sections of the tunnel being made at a large concret factory at shore, then brought out to sea and sunken and assembled at the sea bed. Finaly the will cover the elements by gravel and sand. The tunnel will open in 2029. You can read more about the Femern-Sund project here . The new tunnel also means a new customs control station. Today the closest station is in Nørre Alslev which the delegation aslo visited, and this will be moved closer to the tunnel before it opens in 2029. The NTO visits the customs station i Nørre Alslev The agenda There were a lot of important topics this year. One of the most important issues is the national reports - each union gives a "state of the union" and adresses what is happening in their countries and in their administrations. Further more the agande had the following items: Welcome Presentation by Director Christian Lützen, Danish Customs Agency Country Reports Working Group – Status Committee in the NCO on the Legal Mandates of Customs Officers in the Nordic Countries UFE – Status by UFE Vice President Karin Tanderø Schaug and Steinar Myhre Knutsen Well-being and Other Personnel Policy Matters Sick Leave, Work-Related Stress, and Work Environment Arming of Customs Officers in the Nordic Countries Security / Geopolitical Issues NCO – Organizational Matters Possible Statement from the NCO Scheduling of the 2026 Meeting in Connection with the UFE Meeting Any Other Business The two-day congress was not enough to cover all the items as thoroughly as wanted, but the discussion will continue during the quarterly video-meetings NTO are having. Next year there is no NTO-congress, but there will be a one-day meeting related to the UFE-congress. Where this will be is not yet decided. The swedish union, TULL/KUST, will be responsible to facilitate the meeting, and they will also be hosting the next NTO-congress in 2027. The following years the different unions will rotate as hosts: 2026: Sweden – NTO-meeting at the UFE congress 2027: Sweden – NTO congress in Sweden 2028: Norway – NTO-meeting at the UFE congress 2029: Norway – NTO congress in Norway 2030: Finland – NTO-meeting at the UFE congress 2031: Finland – NTO congress in Finland 2032: Iceland – NTO-meeting at the UFE congress 2033: Iceland – NTO congress in Iceland The delegates from the 2025 NCO congress

About NCO Nordic Customs Organization (NCO) is compiled of the national labour unions for employees in the Customs authorities in the Nordic countries. NCO´s intention is to maintain the liaison and further develop the collaboration between the participating Nordic unions. Welcome to the Nordic Customs Organization (NCO) Welcome to the Nordic Customs Organization (NCO) Welcome to the Nordic Customs Organization (NCO) Welcome to the Nordic Customs Organization (NCO) Read the latest news from NCO Member unions Norsk Tollerforbund post@norsktollerforbund.no www.norsktollerforbund.no Tull/Kust info@tullkust.se www.tullkust.se Dansk Told & Skatteforbund dts@dts.dk www.dts.dk/ Tollvardafelag Islands https://tollverdir.is/hafa-samband/ www.tollverdir.is/ rainer.lindholm@tulli.fi www.tvml.fi/ Tullivirkamiesliitto henrik.enstrom@tulli.fi www.tulliliitto.fi Tulliliitto Add paragraph text. Click “Edit Text” to update the font, size and more. To change and reuse text themes, go to Site Styles. NCO´s decisive body is the NCO Convention. The Convention is normally arranged biannually. The Convention cannot adopt decisions which is obligating the participating unions, except for decisions according to new unions enrolling, or exclusion of an already participating union. The participating unions is to decide themselves who and how many to represent them at the Convention and meetings. Each union have however only 1 – one vote. In addition to the convention, the NCO has annual meetings, and also video meetings on a regular basis. NCO Convention The executive committee Between the Conventions the NCO is administrated by a government body consisting of the presidents from each participating union. Together they are the executive committee. The executive committee selects a hosting union which is responsible for the administration of the NCO between the Conventions and/or meetings. The role as hosting union is circulated between all the participating unions every second year. In countries which have more than one participating union, they choose among themselves which of the national unions should undertake the role as hosting union. The hosting union attends to the interests of NCO and carry out the made decisions according to the framework set by the Convention and/or the executive committee. The history The NCO was founded in 1923, when the three organization in Norway, Sweden and Denmark met in Gothenburg, Sweden for their inaugurating meeting. They choose the new organization to be named Nordisk Tolltjenestemanns Union (Nordic Custom Officers Union) - later in the seventies - they changed the name to Nordisk Tolltjenestemanns Organisasjon (Nordic Customs Officers Organization). Now the name has changed to Nordic Customs Organization (NCO) since 2024. The founding idea was that the nordic organizations for customs employees of lower rank should start a cooperation, share their magazines and give knowledge about each others work- and wage conditions. They also decided that they should invite representatives from each organization to each others congresses. A few years later in 1927, an organization from Finland also joined in, and then another finnish organization followed, together with an Icelandic organization. As of 2024 there are six organizations from five nordic countries in the NCO.

Latest News go to news archive NTO and UFE Although not all of the Scandinavian countries are members of the EU, four of the Nordic union are members in the UFE - Union of Finance personell in Europe (as of 2024, the two finnish unions are not UFE-members) . Go to the UFE website