The Republic Customs Office was the organizations charged with preventing illegal trade of spices and other illicit goods within the Galactic Republic by the time of the Cold War with the Sith Empire.
The Republic Customs Office was responsible for regulating the flow of goods within the Republic and preventing the trade of illicit materials such as spice. As part of their job regulating the economy, Customs personnel could impound starships if they considered the vessel or its crew to be suspect.
Founded sometime before the Cold War between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire, the office had agents stationed on planets across the galaxy. Agent Soganti was assigned to the planet Taris around 3643 BBY, and he attempted to investigate the activities of the smuggler Beryl Thorne but failed to find enough evidence on her.
In 3642 BBY, when the combat medic Archiban Kimble was being blackmailed by criminals on the planet Alderaan into delivering a shipment of spice in exchange for the life of his ex-fiancé Prudy, he contacted Republic Customs. Customs sent Kimble, better known as Doc, undercover on their behalf so that they could arrest the criminals, but the plan went sour and Customs was forced to send in hostage negotiators to ensure Prudy and Doc's safety.
Republic Customs first appeared in the 2011 BioWare video game Star Wars: The Old Republic, in the Smuggler and Jedi Knight class storylines. Agent Soganti appears twice in the Smuggler class storyline on Taris, where he is pursuing Beryl Thorne, and Customs is also mentioned in the conversation "The Best Intentions" with the Knight class's companion Doc. The situation with Republic Customs in that conversation replaced a previous version of the mission where the player would accompany Doc to Alderaan and confront the criminal Cazzush, but that iteration was cut before the game's release.