CUSTOMS REGULATIONS AND PRO- 
CEDURE IN GREAT BRITAIN AND 
NORTHERN IRELAND. 
ells 
CHAPTER 1. 
Tae CUSTOMS SERVICE. 
Management of duties.—The primary business of the Customs and 
Excise Department is the collection and management, under the 
directions of the Commissioners of Customs and Excise, subject to 
the control of the Treasury, of duties of Customs and Excise in 
Great Britain and Northern Ireland* The present volume is 
concerned ‘with Customs administration only, and accordingly 
officers of Customs and Excise are usually referred to as Customs 
officers or simply officers. 
Non-revenue functions—In addition to its main business of 
collecting and safeguarding revenue, the Customs and Excise Depart- 
ment has, especially of late years, become committed, by successive 
enactments of law, to the performance of services having little if 
any bearing on revenue interests. The majority of these extraneous 
services are performed on behalf of other Departments of Govern- 
ment, which have not a suitable staff available. Thus, Customs 
officers at the present time assist in controlling for other Depart- 
ments the traffic in many non-dutiable goods which, on various 
grounds of public policy (e.g. for the protection of health), are 
subject to prohibition or special regulation on import or export. 
Arrangement of Service—Apart from the central establishment of 
the joint Customs and Excise Service in London, the Customs 
Service of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is arranged on the 
following lines :— 
L. Officers in.charge.—The coastline} of Great Britain and Northern 
Ireland is divided into areas, which are each in charge of a Collector, 
who is responsible for the Customs administration therein. Each 
area contains a head port and most of them contain also subsidiary 
ports and creeks. These subsidiary ports and creeks are in charge of 
officers of lower rank subject to the Collector's supervision. 
* See note on the phrase “ Great Britain and Northern Ireland” on 
page 100. 
t As to the special conditions obtaining on the land boundary between 
Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State, see Chapter XII (Section C).