The Customs work in Cochin Port has been in existence for over one and half century. Before 1947, the centre of activity of Customs work was at Fort Cochin formerly known as British Cochin. With the gradual development of Cochin Port, the Willingdon Island, an artificial Island constructed by Lord Willingdon became the hub of activity and the Custom House was shifted from Fort Cochin to Willingdon Island in 1956. The Customs Department was under the administrative control of the Collector of Central Excise, Madras. Department’s own building was constructed during 1956 and since then the Custom House commenced functioning as a full-fledged Custom House under a separate Collector of Customs. In 1960, the Central Excise formations within the State of Kerala were brought under the jurisdiction of the Collector of Customs and the post was designated as Collector of Customs and Central Excise, Cochin. In 1983, the functional segregation of Customs and Central Excise was effected and separate Collectors were designated for Central Excise and Customs having respective jurisdiction of the entire state. In 1989, the jurisdictional area of the Commissioner of Customs was redefined and limited to cover the Cochin Port, Cochin Airport, Cochin Export Processing Zone and the area falling under the jurisdiction of the Greater Cochin Development Authority and the Commissioner of Central Excise was re-designated as Commissioner of Central Excise and Customs having jurisdiction over the remaining area of the state. The Cochin International Airport at Nedumbassery, which started operation during June 1999 falls within the jurisdiction of Commissioner of Customs, Cochin.
The Custom House is headed by a Commissioner, assisted by one Additional Commissioner, two Joint Commissioners, 3 Deputy Commissioners and 7 Asst. Commissioners. To assist the Commissioner in his functions, the Custom House has 129 Group ‘B’ officers, 250 Group ‘C’ officers and 87 Group ‘D’ officers. Three wings viz. Preventive, Appraising and Ministerial handle the various functions of the Custom House. The Preventive Department attends to the anti-smuggling functions and operations within the jurisdiction of the Custom House and also mans the various points within the Sea Port and the International Airport. This Department also looks after the passenger clearance work of both accompanied and unaccompanied baggages at the Cochin Port and at new Cochin International Airport at Nedumbassery. Examination, valuation, assessment and clearance of imported or export goods are the functions of the Appraising Wing. The secretarial work in the Custom House is handled by the Ministerial Wing. The Custom House is also equipped with a full-fledged Laboratory which undertakes analysis of various goods imported / exported. The laboratory also undertakes chemical analysis of the goods manufactured in various factories in the State for the purpose of classification and assessment under the Central Excise Tariff Act. The Laboratory is having two Chemical Examiners and assisted by two Asst. Chemical Examiners, and 8 Chemical Assistants (4 each in Grade-I and Grade-II).
The hinterland of Cochin Port comprises of the State of Kerala, parts of the States of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Major items of import through this port are Crude Petroleum, other Petroleum Products, Rubber products, Raw Cashew Nuts, Vegetable Oil, Cement, Metallic Ores, Newsprint, Chemicals, Steel items, Machinery, Motor Vehicles, Synthetic waste, Defense classified goods and Stores, other consumer goods, Gold etc. Major items of export are Tea, Coffee, Pepper, Cardamom and other Spices, Frozen Marine Products, Cashew Kernels, Cotton piece goods, other Textiles products and Garments, Leather and Leather products, Engineering goods, Pharmaceutical products, Gold Jewellery etc.
The pattern of import and export and cargo handling have undergone considerable and radical changes consequent to the globalisation and liberalisation of Indian economy during the last decade which has resulted in the containerisation as the major mode of carriage of international trade which reaches the door steps of the user. Cochin Port also adapted to these changes. Over 1,00,000 containers are handled by this port every year. There is a project for the setting up of an International Container Terminal at Cochin. The revenue realisation of Cochin Custom House during the year 2000-2001 was Rs.969.74 Crores and during the year2001-2002 it was Rs.713.25 crores. Major portion of the revenue of this Custom House is from the import of Petroleum Crude and other Petroleum Products, which represents around 65% of the total revenue realisation.
Export work at this port has been reduced considerably because of decentralisation and consolidation of export cargo at Inland Container Depots (ICD) and at Container Freight Stations (CFS). Three Container Freight Stations are in operation at Cochin handling both export and import cargo. The consignments examined and sealed by the Central Excise Officers outside the jurisdiction of the Custom House are also handled by this Custom House. Cochin is the gateway port for ICDs’ and CFSs’ notified by the Commissionerates of Coimbatore and Bangalore.
Various Export Promotion Schemes introduced by the Government to boost Indian Exports are in operation at this Custom House also. For easy facilitation and providing fast clearance of consignments under the various Export Promotion Schemes, a separate Group VII is also working in this Custom House. A separate Drawback Section to deal with all types of Drawback claims is also functioning in the Custom House. The claims are processed and sanctioned and the Cheques issued by this Section within 48 hours of export. The Postal Appraising Department handles the articles imported and exported through Post, which function in close liaison with the Postal Authorities. A sub-foreign post office handles all postal articles with direct mailing facility to U. A. E., Kuwait and K.S.A.
The Special Investigation Branch is entrusted with the work of detecting under / over-invoicing, mis-declaration and other cases of economic offences and frauds in the import or export. Similarly to gather intelligence on smuggling activities throughout the coastline and within the Port, and Airport areas full-fledged Preventive Intelligence Units are also functioning. The Rummage and Intelligence Unit and the Air Intelligence Unit spearhead the anti-smuggling operations.
Public Grievance Cell, Customs Advisory Committee, Open House Meetings, Tax Payers Committee and Information Facilitation Cell are functioning under the chairmanship of the Commissioner of Customs. Problems faced by the importers / exporters or passengers in any matter pertaining to Customs including clearance of the cargo or baggage or procedural difficulties are discussed and settled by these Committees.
Passenger clearance at Cochin International Airport started from June 1999 onwards on His Excellency The President of India dedicating this Airport to the Nation. The Customs work at the Airport is attended by deploying of staff from the Custom House. On an average 300 international flights operate in a month catering to more than 20,000 passengers each way.
The Indian Custom EDI System has been introduced at Cochin Custom House from 31.12.1998. At the initial stage, Electronic Data Processing was introduced for Export, and extended, to Imports from 08.02.1999. IEC data registered with the DGFT is transmitted on line from Delhi, and automatically received and updated at the Custom House, Cochin with effect from 01.06.2001. Automatic DTR data transmission to Delhi Air Cargo System, and Directorate of Valuation, Mumbai, is now operational. The transition from Manual to EDI processing of documents in the Custom House has been very smooth and the System is working satisfactorily.
