It is responsible for levying indirect taxes, preventing smuggling, surveilling borders and investigating counterfeit money.

[2][3] The Directorate-general is controlled by the Minister for the Budget, Public Accounts and the Civil Service (French: Ministère du Budget, des Comptes publics et de la Fonction publique) at the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment.

[4] The first French customs service was called the ferme générale ("General Farm") and operated under the monarchy.

Some personnels were affected in bureaux (port or office-based staff who were tasked to apply customs measures to the goods entering and leaving France), others in brigades (mobile detachments organized and equipped to patrol the borders and arrest smugglers).

During WW1, due to their knowledge of the areas and their experience in human tracking, they were part of Corps Francs (small units which were tasked to operate behind German lines to collect intelligence and perform sabotages on enemy targets).

The red stripe on their uniforms is a remaining of the decoration of one of their officers, Capitaine Cutsaert during the Napoleonic wars The military customs service fought in the early part of the Second World War but was disbanded on June 22, 1940 after the French defeat and was never reconstituted as a military service.

[5] The Musée national des douanes located in Bordeaux, France, presents the history of French customs.