Customs Service
3
3.8
- proper noun
- Formal
:
Servicio de Aduanas
- The Customs Service plays a vital role in regulating international trade.
- U.S. Customs Service
Examples
-
Among these three ways of re-export trade, only the first one is included in the official statistics of re-export trade value by the Hong Kong Customs Service.
Academic text (1996) -
One typical scorching summer night in Indiana, I was online to BALC, chatting with a person who worked for the U.S. Customs Service at San Francisco International Airport.
Fiction book (1992) -
The Customs Service has banned the drug from the U.S.
Fiction book (2000) -
Our common link was my sister, who works for the U.S. Customs Service in Indianapolis.
Fiction book (1992) -
Secondary roles have been assigned to the Border Patrol, the Coast Guard, and the Customs Service.
Academic text (1992) -
The U.S. Customs Service has taken some tentative steps toward such a preventive approach to border control.
Academic text (2000) -
A United States Customs Service agent was driving home after work in a government-owned car when he spotted an erratic and dangerous driver.
Academic text (2018) -
Beginning in 1998, the Customs Service launched the Americas Counter Smuggling.
Academic text (2000) -
The Department of Treasury's Customs Service assists the regulatory authorities by checking and occasionally detaining imports based on provided guidance.
Academic text (2000) -
As an incentive for participation, the Customs Service agrees to reduce penalties should a company's good-faith efforts prove less than foolproof.
Academic text (2000)
Synonyms
1
3.9
A government office that checks goods entering a country and collects taxes on them
A government office that inspects and taxes goods brought into a country
A former US government agency that checked incoming goods and collected taxes on them
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and predictably composed from 'customs' (relating to import/export duties and the authority that enforces them) and 'service' (an agency or organization). A B1 learner who knows both constituents will infer this refers to the government agency handling customs; the same compound pattern exists in many languages, supporting transparency.
Etymology
Customs Service comes from the old job of collecting customs, a 'tax' on goods brought into a country, and checking those goods at the border. So today the Customs Service is the government office that checks imports, makes sure rules are followed, and collects that tax.