zolls

Zolls is the genitive singular form of Zoll, a German noun with several related meanings. The primary sense is customs duties or tariffs imposed on goods crossing a border. In the nominative plural, this sense is expressed as Zölle, while the genitive form appears as des Zolls, used in phrases like die Höhe des Zolls (the amount of the customs duty). Zoll also denotes a unit of length equal to one inch; in practice, when counting inches, the plural is often unchanged (zwei Zoll, drei Zoll), and the genitive again appears as des Zolls.

Historically, tariffs have played a central role in trade policy and economic integration. The term is closely associated with the Zollverein, the 19th-century German customs union that facilitated internal trade and economic consolidation among member states. In contemporary contexts, tariffs are administered by national customs authorities (often called Zollbehörden) and governed by national law and international agreements. Tariffs influence the cost of imports and exports, domestic pricing, and bargaining in international trade, with adjustments typically negotiated within frameworks such as the World Trade Organization. In the European Union, internal borders have largely been open for goods, reducing cross-border customs formalities, while external tariffs on imports from outside the EU remain in force.

Other uses of Zoll relate to measurement and historical or technical contexts, where the term continues to appear in discussions of length or in older documentation. The form Zolls however is most commonly encountered as the genitive singular of Zoll in German.