Classes of Officers:

The administration of the Act has to be done by certain officers of customs. The Customs Act also specifies the class of officers who are responsible for the functioning of the law.

Section 3 of the Customs Act, specifies the classes of officers of customs namely:

(a) Principal Chief Commissioner of Customs;

(b) Chief Commissioners of Customs;

(c) Principal Commissioner of Customs;

(d) Commissioners of Customs;

(e) Commissioners of Customs (Appeals);

(f) Joint Commissioners of Customs;

(g) Deputy Commissioners of Customs;

(h) Assistant Commissioners of Customs; and

(i) Such other class of officers of customs as may be appointed for the purposes of this Act.

Among the other classes of officers of customs, the more important ones are:

(a) Appraisers of customs, who do the assessment work of import and export goods, including classification, valuation and examination of the goods; and

(b) Preventive Officers of Customs, who do the executive duties like

(i) Boarding and checking ships and aircrafts;

(ii) Clearing passengers and crew and their baggage;

(iii) Surpervision and control over loading and unloading of cargo;

(iv) Preventing smuggling by checking suspects, patrolling the customs area, searching suspected premises, persons and vehicles.

(v) Interrogating suspects/witnesses and investigation.

(c) Ministerial officers who maintain records, keep accounts, etc.

(d) Chemical examiner, who tests samples of imported/export cargo for determination of true character of the goods for proper classification and value, necessary for determination of customs duty.

The above is the normal setup in the organization at the major ports of Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Cochin, Visakapatnam, Kandla, Goa, known as major custom houses. In other customs ports/customs airports/land customs station, the job is carried out by the Central Excise Officers, who are having territorial jurisdiction, with similar designations.