The Visakhapatnam Custom House was under the administrative control of the Commissioner of Central Excise, Hyderabad till 1956. The Custom House was bifurcated from the Central Excise Commissionerate of Hyderabad and was attached to the Custom House, Madras from 1.1.1957. A Commissionerate of Customs & Central Excise was formed at Visakhapatnam with effect from 6.4.90 vide notification no.15/90-Cus (NT) dated 6.4.90. A separate Commissionerate of Customs was formed at Visakhapatnam in July, 1997 vide notification no.27/97-Cus (NT) dated 7.7.97. The jurisdiction of Visakhapatnam Custom House includes the area covering the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation limits of Visakhapatnam, Seaport, Airport, Visakhapatnam Special Economic Zone, Visakha Container Terminal Ltd., Adani Gangavaram Port Ltd. and Container Freight Stations [CFS] .

The Custom House is headed by the Commissioner of Customs. All the different functions of the Custom House are attended to by its various departments viz Import-Export, Appraising, EDI, Cash & Accounts, Internal Audit, Docks (Appg), M.C.D., Statistics, Preventive (Rummaging, Intelligence Unit, Warehouse, Docks ), Establishment, Vigilance, Records etc.,

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