Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

dispatch. And if in such action judgment shall be rendered against the United States, or the amount recovered for debt and costs shall be less than the amount so withheld as before provided, the balance shall then be paid over to such plaintiff by such Secretary with six per cent. interest thereon for the time it has been withheld from the plaintiff."

Refund of Duties Where Merchandise Is Re-exported Direct from the Custody and Control of the Government.

SEC. 7. Merchandise on which duties have been paid, remaining in warehouse, may be re-exported at any time within three years from date of entry with benefit of refund under Section 2977, Revised Statutes (Chapter XV, Section 4.)

CHAPTER XXIV

DAMAGE ALLOWANCES

Merchandise Dutiable in Condition Packed Ready for Shipment to the United States

SEC. 1. As has been heretofore stated, imported merchandise subject to an ad valorem rate of duty, or to a duty based upon or regulated in any manner by the value thereof, is dutiable at its open foreign market value in condition packed ready for shipment to the United States, as defined by Paragraph R of Section III of the Tariff Act of October 3, 1913. (Chapter VII, Section 9.)

Damage on Voyage of Importation

SEC. 2. If damage has been incurred on the voyage of importation, it is provided by Paragraph X, Section III, of the Tariff Act of October 3, 1913, that:

"No allowance shall be made in the estimation and liquidation of duties for shortage or non-importation caused by decay, destruction, or injury to fruit or other perishable articles imported into the United States whereby their commercial value has been destroyed, unless under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. Proof to ascertain such destruction or nonimportation shall be lodged with the collector of customs at the port where such merchandise has been landed, or the person acting as such, within ten days after the landing of such merchandise. The provisions hereof shall apply whether or not the merchandise has been entered, and whether or not the duties have been paid or secured to be paid, and whether or not a permit of delivery has been granted to the owner or consignee. Nor shall any allowance be made for damage, but the importers may within ten days after entry abandon to the United States all or any portion of goods, wares, or merchandise of every description

included in any invoice and be relieved from the payment of duties on the portion so abandoned: Provided, That the portion so abandoned shall amount to ten per centum or more of the total value or quantity of the invoice. The right to abandonment herein provided for may be exercised whether the goods, wares, or merchandise have been damaged or not, or whether or not the same have any commercial value: Provided further, That section twenty-eight hundred and ninety-nine of the Revised Statutes, relating to the return of packages unopened for appraisement, shall in no wise prohibit the right of importers to make all needful examinations to determine whether the right to abandon accrues, or whether by reason of total destruction there is a non-importation in whole or in part. All merchandise abandoned to the Government by the importers shall be delivered by the importers thereof at such place within the port of arrival as the chief officer of customs may direct, and on the failure of the importers to comply with the direction of the collector or the chief officer of customs, as the case may be, the abandoned mer. chandise shall be disposed of by the customs authorities under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe, at the expense of such importers. Where imported fruit or perishable goods have been condemned at the port of original entry within ten days after landing, by health officers or other legally constituted authorities, the importers or their agents shall, within twenty-four hours after such condemnation, lodge with the collector, or the person acting as collector, of said port, notice thereof in writing, together with an invoice description and the quantity of the articles condemned, their location, and the name of the vessel in which imported. Upon receipt of said notice the collector, or person acting as collector, shall at once cause an investigation and report to be made in writing by at least two customs officers touching the identity and quantity of fruit or perishable goods condemned, and unless proof to ascertain the shortage or non-importation of fruit or perishable goods shall have been lodged as herein required, or if the importer or his agent fails to notify the collector of such condemnation proceedings as herein provided, proof of such shortage or non-importation shall not be deemed established and no allowance shall be made in the liquidation of the duties chargeable thereon."

Entry by Appraisement of Merchandise Damaged on Voyage of Importation by Casualty. SEC. 3. An exception is made under Section 2926 of the Revised Statutes, which provides that:

"All merchandise of which incomplete entry has been made, or an entry without the specification of particulars, either for

want of the original invoice, or for any other cause, shall be conveyed to some warehouse or storehouse to be designated by the collector, in the parcels or packages containing the same, there to remain with due and reasonable care, at the expense and risk of the owner or consignee, under the care of some proper officer. until the particulars, cost, or value, as the case may require, shali have been ascertained either by the exhibition of the original invoice thereof, or by appraisement, at the option of the owner, importer, or consignee; and until the duties thereon shall have been paid, or secured to be paid, and a permit granted by the collector for the delivery thereof."

Damage by Casualty After Importation

SEC. 4. As to damage sustained by accidental fire or other casualty after the merchandise has come within the limits of any port of entry, Section 2984 of the Revised Statutes provides that:

"The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized, upon production of satisfactory proof to him of the actual injury or destruction, in whole or in part, of any merchandise, by accidental fire, or other casualty, while the same remained in the custody of the officers of the customs in any public or private warehouse under bond, or in the appraisers' stores undergoing appraisal, in pursuance of law or regulations of the Treasury Department, or while in transportation under bond from the port of entry to any other port in the United States, or while in the custody of the officers of the customs and not in bond, or while within the limits of any port of entry, and before the same have been landed under the supervision of the officers of the customs, to abate or refund, as the case may be, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the amount of impost duties paid or accruing thereupon; and likewise to cancel any warehouse bond or bonds, or enter satisfaction thereon in whole or in part, as the case may be."

Damage by Deterioration

SEC. 5. As to damage by deterioration of goods in warehouse, it is provided by Section 2983 of the Revised Statutes that:

"In no case shall there be any abatement of the duties or allowance for any injury, damage, deterioration, loss or leakage sustained by any merchandise, while deposited in any public or private bonded warehouse."

Shortage Allowance

SEC. 6. An allowance will be made in the assessment of duties for lost or missing packages appearing on the entry if shown by the report of the discharging officer not to have been landed. (Article 607, Customs Regulations, 1915.)

Deficiencies in the contents of examination packages discovered by the appraising officer are allowed for under Section 2921 of the Revised Statutes heretofore cited. (Chapter VII, Section 2.)

Allowance for shortage discovered by the importer after the delivery of unexamined packages to him may be made under Paragraph X of Section III of the Tariff Act of October 3, 1913, which provides:

"That section twenty-eight hundred and ninety-nine of the Revised Statutes, relating to the return of packages unopened for appraisement, shall in no wise prohibit the right of importers to make all needful examinations to determine whether the right to abandon accrues, or whether by reason of total destruction there is a non-importation in whole or in part." (Article 608 Customs Regulations 1915.)

Breakage and Leakage

SEC. 7. In regard to breakage, leakage or damage on wines, liquors, etc., it is provided by Paragraph 244 of the Tariff Act of October 3, 1913:

"That there shall be no constructive or other allowance for breakage, leakage, or damage on wines, liquors, cordials, or distilled spirits, except that when it shall appear to the collector of customs from the gauger's return, verified by an affidavit by the importer, to be filed within five days after the delivery of the merchandise, that a cask or package has been broken or otherwise injured in transit from a foreign port, and as a result thereof a part of its contents, amounting to 10 per centum or more of the total value of the contents of the said cask or package in its condition as exported, has been lost, allowance therefore may be made in the liquidation of the duties. Wines, cordials, brandy, and other spirituous liquors, including bitters of all kinds, and

« ForrigeFortsett »