Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
BOOK REVIEW - CENTRE COMMENT* FROM U.W.I.S.T.
The appointment of Customs ports
John Gibson
M.A. (Oxon.)
It has generally escaped notice that Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise has recently been enlarging the geographical scope of its authority around the coast of the United Kingdom. The interesting factor, however, is not that this constitutes a covert exercise in official expansionism, but, rather, that the operation has been so long delayed. The Commissioners of Customs and Excise have hitherto confined themselves within obsolete 19th century boundaries that failed to take full advantage of the powers available under international law.
Since the beginning of 1980,1 13 Orders have been issued under the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979,2 which define the limits of 70 contiguous Customs ports,3 comprehending the entire seaboard of Britain. This process is, in part, an attempt at administrative rationalisation, since it involves the abolition of 44 former ports4 and their replacement by 16 new entities,5 together with additional adjustments to existing areas; and, for the first time, the island of Rockall has been annexed to Stornoway.
* Centre for Marine Law and Policy. University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology.
1 Appointment of Ports (Forth, Tay and Arbroath) Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 81; Appointment of Ports (London) Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 482; Appointment of Ports (Colchester, Orwell Haven, Lowestoft, Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn and Wisbech) Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 483; Appointment of Ports (Folkstone, Dover, Ramsgate, Whitstable and Medway) Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 484; Appointment of Ports (Tees and Hartlepool, Sunderland, Tyne, Blyth and Berwick) Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 485; Appointment of Ports (Boston, Humber, Scarborough and Whitby) Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 486; Appointment of Ports (Bristol Channel and Cardigan Bay) Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 1367; Appointment of Ports (Padstow, Penzance, St. Mary’s, Falmouth, Fowey, Plymouth, Dartmouth, Teignmouth and Exeter) Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 1368; Appointment of Ports (Weymouth, Poole, Solent, Littlehampton, Shoreham and Newhaven) Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 1369; Appointment of Ports (Liverpool, Mostyn, Holyhead and Caernarfon) Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 1879; Appointment of Ports (North of Scotland) Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 1880; Appointment of Ports (Strathclyde and Dumfries and Galloway) Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 1881; Appointment of Ports (Preston, Fleetwood, Heysham and Workington) Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 1882.
2 Section 19.
3 Arbroath, Tay, Forth, Berwick, Blyth, Tyne, Sunderland, Tees and Hartlepool, Whitby, Scarborough, Humber, Boston, King’s Lynn and Wisbech, Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Orwell Haven, Colchester, London, Medway, Whitstable, Ramsgate, Dover, Folkestone, Newhaven, Shoreham, Littlehampton, Solent, Poole, Weymouth, Exeter, Teignmouth, Dartmouth, Plymouth, Fowey, Falmouth, St. Mary’s, Penzance, Padstow, Barnstaple, Bridgwater, Bristol, Gloucester, Newport, Cardiff, Port Talbot, Swansea, Llanelli, Milford Haven, Fishguard, Aberystwyth, Caernarfon, Holyhead, Mostyn, Liverpool, Preston, Fleetwood, Heysham, Workington, Dumfries and Galloway, Strathclyde, Stornoway, Lerwick, Kirkwall, Wick, Inverness, Banff, Fraserburgh, Peterhead, Aberdeen, Montrose.
4 Dundee, Perth, Methil, Kirkcaldy, Burntisland, Alloa, Grangemouth, Borrowstoness, Granton, Leith, Hartlepool, Stockton, Middlesbrough, Hull, Goole, Grimsby, Wisbech, Lynn, Yarmouth, Harwich, Ipswich, Portsmouth, Cowes, Southampton, Truro, Bideford, Milford, Cardigan, Holyhead, Mostyn. Heysham, Dumfries and Galloway, Strathclyde.
5 Tay, Forth, Tees and Hartlepool, Humber, King’s Lynn and Wisbech, Great Yarmouth, Orwell Haven, Solent, Falmouth, Milford Haven, Fishguard, Beaumaris, Chester, Lancaster, Barrow in Furness, Whitehaven, Maryport, Carlisle, Wigtown and Dumfries, Stranraer, Ayr, Troon, Irvine, Ardrossan, Greenock, Glasgow, Campbeltown.
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