Customs officer

A customs officer is a law enforcement agent who enforces customs laws, on behalf of a government.

4,931 posts, of which nine are directorate officers, 3,804 are members of the Customs and Excise Department, 504 are Trade Controls Officers and 614 are staff of the General and Common Grades.

Hong Kong is one of the busiest container ports in the world. It handled 20.4 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) in 2003. Of these, 12.1 million TEUs were handled at the Kwai Chung Container Terminal. In 2003, 70,910 ocean-going ships and 365,190 coastal vessels entered and left Hong Kong.

Ships and vessels are subject to customs check. Cargoes are either examined on board sea freighters or after off-loading.

In 2004, a total of 8.6 million passengers arrived in Hong Kong from the Mainland and Macau by sea and by helicopters. They were processed at the China Ferry Terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui and the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal in Central. In addition, a daily average of 49 helicopter flights between Hong Kong and Macau are operated at the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal. Four Customs launches conduct maritime patrol in the territorial waters round the clock whereas four high-speed pursuit crafts and two shallow water patrol launches are employed to carry out interception at sea.

The C&ED is an active member of the World Customs Organization (WCO) and Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). It exchanges intelligence and works closely with overseas customs administrations and law enforcement agencies. The department has also entered bilateral Cooperative Arrangements with other customs authorities on administrative assistance. At the working level, the department and the China Customs have each established designated liaison officers to facilitate the exchange of intelligence through direct telephone hotlines.

In ancient usage a "customer" was a person to whom the right to collect customs in a particular port had been granted by the crown, often for a consideration in the form of a farm.

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