U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER
PROTECTION: MISSION AND ORGANIZATION
1. Organization
Mission
Before September 11, 2001, the major
responsibility of the former U.S. Customs
Service was to administer the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended. When
Customs subsequently merged with other
border enforcement agencies to become U.S. Customs and Border Protection, CBP’s priority mission
became homeland security: detecting,
deterring and preventing terrorists and their weapons from entering the
United States.
This mission fits ideally
with CBP’s long-established responsibilities for protecting and facilitating international
trade. CBP retains its traditional enterprise of protecting the nation's revenue by assessing
and collecting duties, taxes and fees incident
to international traffic and trade. Further, by providing procedural
guidance to the import community, CBP
enhances and increases compliance with domestic and international customs laws and regulations. CBP thus helps
importers assure that their shipments are
free from terrorist or other malicious interference, tampering, or
corruption of containers or
commodities.
Today, CBP is the nation’s
premiere border enforcement agency, and it
accomplishes this new mandate in part by executing the responsibilities
for which it has always been known:
controlling, regulating, and facilitating the
movement of carriers, people, and commodities between the United States
and other nations; protecting the
American consumer and the environment against
the introduction of hazardous, toxic or noxious products into the United
States; protecting domestic industry and
labor against unfair foreign competition; and
detecting, interdicting, and investigating smuggling and other illegal
practices aimed at illegally entering
narcotics, drugs, contraband or other prohibited articles into the United States.
CBP is also responsible for detecting, interdicting, and
investigating fraudulent activities
intended to avoid the payment of duties, taxes and fees, or activities meant to evade the legal
requirements of international traffic and
trade; and for detecting, interdicting, and investigating illegal
international trafficking in arms,
munitions, currency, and acts of terrorism at U.S. ports of entry.