Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

permit for delivery to the importer or his agent has been issued, shall be subjected to the duties imposed by this Act and to no other duty, upon the entry or the withdrawal thereof: Provided. That when duties are based upon the weight of merchandise deposited in any public or private bonded warehouse, said duties. shall be levied and collected upon the weight of such merchandise at the time of its entry."

Liquidation of the Warehouse Entry

SEC. 5. The merchandise having been duly weighed, measured, or gauged, and examined, and appraised, as the necessities of the case may require, the Collector of Customs will ascertain and determine the amount of the duties chargeable thereon (subject, however, to the importer's right to demand a reappraisement if dissatisfied with the appraising officer's findings of value), and will liquidate the entry accordingly. The entry having been duly liquidated, the importer, if dissatisfied with the Collector's ascertainment as to the rate and amount of duties chargeable on the merchandise imported, may call for a review by protest in like manner as in the case of goods entered for consumption. (Chapter VIII, Section 5.)

Goods Not Duly Entered

SEC. 6. Section 2963 of the Revised Statutes provides that:

"When merchandise imported into the United States has not been entered in pursuance of the provisions of any act regulating imports and tonnage, the same shall be deposited in the public warehouse, and shall there remain, at the expense and risk of the owner, until such invoice is produced. Nothing herein contained shall be understood to prohibit the sale of such quantities of merchandise so stored as may be necessary to discharge the duties thereon, and all intervening charges, at the time or times. when such duties shall become due and payable."

Such warehouses, or parts thereof, used exclusively for the storage of seized and unclaimed merchandise are designated "General Order Stores." (Article 709, Customs Regulations, 1915.)

Unclaimed Merchandise

SEC. 7. In cases of failure or neglect to pay duties it is provided by Section 2964 of the Revised Statutes that:

"In all cases of failure or neglect to pay the duties within the period allowed by law to the importer to make entry thereof, or whenever the owner, importer, or consignee shall make entry for warehousing the same, in writing, in such form and supported by such proof as shall be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, the merchandise shall be taken possession of by the collector, and deposited in the public stores, or in other stores to be agreed on by the collector or chief revenue officer of the port, and the importer, owner or consignee, such stores to be secured under the joint locks of the inspector and importer, there to be kept, with due and reasonable care, at the charge and risk of the owner, importer, consignee, or agent, and subject at all times to their order, upon payment of the proper duties and expenses, to be ascertained on due entry thereof for warehousing, and to be secured by a bond of the owner, importer, or consignee, with surety to the satisfaction of the collector, in double the amount of the duties, and in such form as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe."

Storage of Unclaimed Merchandise

SEC. 8. In regard to the storing of unclaimed merchandise, it is provided by Section 2965 of the Revised Statutes that:

"Unclaimed merchandise required by existing laws to be taken possession of by collectors of the customs may be stored in any public warehouse owned or leased by the United States, or in any private bonded warehouse authorized by this Title, and all charges for storage, labor, and other expenses accruing on such merchandise, not to exceed in any case the regular rates for such objects at the port in question, must be paid before delivery of the goods on due entry thereof by the claimant or owner; or if sold as unclaimed goods, to realize the import duties, the charges shall be paid by the collector out of the proceeds of the sale

thereof before paying such proceeds into the Treasury as required by existing laws."

Sale of Abandoned Goods

SEC. 9. As to the sale of abandoned goods, it is provided by Section 2971 of the Revised Statutes that:

"All merchandise which may be deposited in public store or bonded warehouse may be withdrawn by the owner for exportation to foreign countries; or may be transhipped to any port of the Pacific or western coast of the United States at any time before the expiration of three years from the date of original importation; such goods on arrival at a Pacific or western port to be subject to the same rules and regulations as if originally imported there. Any goods remaining in public store or bonded warehouse beyond three years shall be regarded as abandoned to the Government, and sold under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe, and the proceeds paid into the Treasury. In computing this period of three years, if such exportation or transhipment of any merchandise shall, whether for the whole or any part of the term of three years, have been prevented by reason of any order of the President, the time. during which such exportation for transhipment of such mer chandise shall have been prevented shall be excluded from the computation. Merchandise withdrawn for exportation shall be subject only to the payment of such storage and charges as may be due thereon."

Distribution of Proceeds of Sale of Abandoned Goods

SEC. 10. In regard to the distribution of the proceeds of sale of goods sold after remaining in public store or bonded warehouse beyond the threeyear period, it is provided by Section 2972 of the Revised Statutes that:

"The Secretary of the Treasury, in case of any sale of merchandise remaining in public store, may pay to the owner, the consignee, or agent of such merchandise, the proceeds thereof, after deducting duties, charges, and expenses, in conformity with the provision relating to the sale of merchandise remaining in a warehouse for more than one year."

Sale of Unclaimed Goods After One Year

SEC. 11. Unclaimed merchandise which shall remain in public store beyond one year, without the payment of duties and charges thereon, may be disposed of in accordance with Section 2973 of the Revised Statutes, which provides that:

"If any merchandise shall remain in public store beyond one year, without payment of the duties and charges thereon, except as hereinbefore provided, then such merchandise shall be appraised by the appraisers, if there be any at such port, and if none, then by two merchants to be designated and sworn by the collector for that purpose, and sold by the collector at public auction, on due public notice thereof being first given, in the manner and for the time to be prescribed by a general regulation of the Treasury Department. At such public sale, distinct printed catalogues descriptive of such merchandise, with the appraised value affixed thereto, shall be distributed among the persons desirous of purchasing, to inspect the quality of such merchandise. The proceeds of such sales, after deducting the usual rate of storage at the port in question, with all other charges and expenses, including duties, shall be paid over to the owner, importer, consignee, or agent, and proper receipts taken for the same.'

[ocr errors]

Distribution of Proceeds of Sale of Unclaimed Goods

SEC. 12. The distribution of the proceeds of sale of unclaimed goods is covered by Section 2974 of the Revised Statutes, which provides that:

"The overplus, if any there be, of the proceeds of sales, after the payment of storage, charges, expenses, and duties, remaining unclaimed for the space of ten days after such sales, shall be paid by the collector into the Treasury of the United States; and the collector shall transmit to the Treasury Department, with the overplus, a copy of the inventory, appraisement, and account of sales, specifying the marks, numbers, and descriptions of the packages sold, their contents, and appraised value, the name of the vessel and master in which, and of the port whence, it was imported, and the time when, and the name of the person to whom such merchandise was consigned in the manifest, and the duties and charges to which the several consignments were respectively subject; and the receipt or certificate of the collector shall exonerate the master of any vessel in which such merchan

dise was imported, from all claim of the owner thereof, who shall, nevertheless, on due proof of his interest, be entitled to receive from the Treasury the amount of overplus paid into the same under the provisions of this Title."

Perishable Merchandise-Sale of

SEC. 13. Warehoused merchandise of a perishable nature may be disposed of forthwith under Section 2975 of the Revised Statutes, which provides that:

"All merchandise of a perishable nature, and all gunpowder and explosive substances, except firecrackers, deposited in any public or private bonded warehouse, shall be sold forthwith."

Unclaimed Merchandise Liable to DepreciationSale of

SEC. 14. Merchandise in public warehouse, if unclaimed and not under bond, if subject to depreciation, may be disposed of under Section 2976 of the Revised Statutes, which provides that:

"Any collector of customs is authorized, under such directions and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, to sell, upon due notice, at public auction, any unclaimed merchandise deposited in public warehouse whenever the same may from depreciation in value, damage, leakage, or other cause, in the opinion of such collector, be likely to prove insufficient, on a sale thereof, to pay the duties, storage, and other charges if suffered to remain in public store for the period allowed by law in the case of unclaimed merchandise."

Importer's Liability for Duties Under His Bond

SEC. 15. Should the proceeds of sale of goods remaining in warehouse beyond three years prove insufficient to pay the storage, charges, expenses and duties to which they may be subject, the importer is liable for any deficit under his warehouse

« ForrigeFortsett »