USCS

USCS is an acronym used for several organizations and publications in the United States. The two most commonly encountered meanings are the United States Customs Service and the United States Code Service.

The United States Customs Service was a federal agency responsible for collecting import duties and enforcing customs laws. It operated under the Department of the Treasury from the late 18th century until 2003, when it was merged into U.S. Customs and Border Protection as part of the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. Its activities included border enforcement, anti-smuggling efforts, and revenue collection.

The United States Code Service is an annotated edition of the United States Code. It provides the official text of statutes along with notes, references to court decisions, and legislative history. For much of the 20th century it was produced by a private publisher under the USCS designation and served as a widely used reference for lawyers and judges. In contemporary practice, the U.S. Code is published and maintained by government and commercial publishers, and the USCS designation remains associated with the traditional legal annotation format in some contexts.

Other uses of the acronym USCS may appear in academic, corporate, or local contexts, but the two meanings above are the most prominent in historical and professional discourse. When encountering USCS, the surrounding material usually clarifies whether the reference is to the former customs agency or to the statutory code publication.