Organization of Customs and Tariff Bureau
The central Customs administration is the Customs and Tariff Bureau, which is an internal bureau of Japan's Ministry of Finance.
The present setup is as follows:
The Customs and Tariff Bureau is headed by the Director-General, who is assisted by two Deputy Directors-General. Under them are six divisions and four offices with various responsibilities (Information Management Office, Office of Inspection of the Customhouses, Customs Administration Research Office, and Office of Economic Partnership), and two Counselors. The directors of these divisions and offices and the counselors deal with all matters relating to Customs administration and tariff policy. The bureau has a staff of 176 (as of fiscal 2009.
The main responsibilities of the Customs and Tariff Bureau are as follows:
- Matters relating to the research and planning of Customs duties, tonnage dues, special tonnage dues, and other Customs administration (including agreements on Customs duties with other countries);
- Matters relating to the imposition and collection of Customs duties and other taxes such as tonnage tax and special tonnage tax, and consumption tax imposed on international freight;
- Matters relating to the surveillance and control of exporting and importing goods, vessels, aircraft, and passengers in accordance with the provisions of customs related laws and regulations;
- Matters relating to the operation of Customs areas;
- Matters relating to supervision of Customhouse brokers and , registered Customhouse specialists;
- Matters relating to the process of sea and air cargo by Nippon Automated Cargo And Port Consolidated System (NACCS);
- Matters relating to trade statistics;
- Matters relating to education and training of Customs officers; and
- Matters relating to general support for the Tariff Branch of the Council on Customs, Tariff, Foreign Exchange and Other Transactions.
The organization and main tasks of the Customs and Tariff Bureau are as follows.
