United States Customs Service

United States Customs Service, formerly Bureau of Customs, United States government agency created in 1789 to administer and enforce the tariff and other related laws and thus provide revenue for the country. For more than 200 years the Customs Service was part of the Department of the Treasury. The Homeland Security Act of 2002 made the agency part of the Department of Homeland Security.

The Customs Service assesses and collects import duties and taxes; regulates carriers, persons, and merchandise entering or departing from the United States; detects and prevents smuggling and frauds; administers certain navigation laws; and works to suppress traffic in illegal narcotics. It also informs import-export businesses of laws, regulations, and controls concerning international trade established by customs and other government agencies and encourages voluntary compliance with them.

The agency is directed by a commissioner of customs, who is nominated by the president of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate. Twenty regional operations centers oversee more than 300 air, land, and sea ports of entry in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. More than a dozen offices also operate in foreign countries.