board. board. be final and conclusive as to the dutiable value of such merchandise against all parties interested therein, unless Appeal to the importer, owner, consignee, or agent of the merchandise shall be dissatisfied with such decision, and shall, within five days thereafter, give notice to the collector, in writing, of such dissatisfaction, or unless the collector shall deem the reappraisement of the merchandise too low, and shall within ten days thereafter appeal to rereappraisement; in either case the collector shall transmit the invoice and all the papers appertaining thereto to the board of nine general appraisers, to be by rule thereof duly assigned for determination. In such cases the Authority of general appraiser and boards of general appraisers shall proceed by all reasonable ways and means in their power to ascertain, estimate, and determine the dutiable value of the imported merchandise, and in so doing may exercise both judicial and inquisitorial functions. In such cases Hearings. hearings may in the discretion of the general appraiser or Board of General Appraisers before whom the case is pending be open and in the presence of the importer or his attorney and any duly authorized representative of the Government, who may in like discretion examine and crossexamine all witnesses produced. The decision of the ap-Finality of de praiser, or the person acting as such (in case where no objection is made thereto, either by the collector or by the importer, owner, consignee or agent) or the single general appraiser in case of no appeal, or of the board of three general appraisers, in all reappraisement cases, shall be final and conclusive against all parties and shall not be subject to review in any manner for any cause in any tribunal or court, and the collector or the person acting as such shall ascertain, fix, and liquidate the rate and amount of the duties to be paid on such merchandise, and the dutiable costs and charges thereon, according to law. "SEC. 14. That the decision of the collector as to the rate and amount of duties chargeable upon imported merchandise, including all dutiable costs and charges, and as to all fees and exactions of whatever character (except duties on tonnage), shall be final and conclusive against all persons interested therein, unless the owner, importer, consignee, or agent of such merchandise, or the person paying such fees, charges, and exactions other than duties, shall, within fifteen days after but not before such ascertain- Time for filing ment and liquidation of duties, as well in cases of mer-Duties chandise entered in bond as for consumption, or within fifteen days after the payment of such fees, charges, and exactions, if dissatisfied with such decision, give notice in writing to the collector, setting forth therein distinctly and specifically, and in respect to each entry or payment, the reasons for his objections thereto, and if the merchandise is entered for consumption shall pay the full amount of the duties and charges ascertained to be due thereon. Upon such notice and payment the collector shall transmit the invoice and all the papers and exhibits connected therewith to the board of nine general appraisers, for due Collectors' deci sions as to duties etc., final. appeals. all assignment and determination as hereinbefore provided; Determination such determination shall be final and conclusive upon of board final. persons interested therein, and the record shall be transmitted to the proper collector or person acting as such, Appeals to who shall liquidate the entry accordingly, except in cases where an application shall be filed in the United States Court of Customs Appeals within the time and in the manner provided for in this Act. Court of Customs oaths. customs officers. Administeri n g "SEC. 15. That the general appraisers, or any of them, Examinations are hereby authorized to administer oaths, and said genby appraisers and eral appraisers, the boards of general appraisers, the local appraisers or the collectors, as the case may be, may cite to appear before them, and examine upon oath any owner, importer, agent, consignee, or other person touching any matter or thing which they, or either of them, may deem material respecting any imported merchandise, in ascertaining the dutiable value or classification thereof; and they, or either of them, may require the production of any letters, accounts, or invoices relating to said merchandise, Preservation of and may require such testimony to be reduced to writing, and when so taken it shall be filed in the office of the the collector, and preserved for use or reference until the final decision of the collector or said board of appraisers shall be made respecting the valuation or classification of said merchandise, as the case may be. testimony. Penalty for failing to appear, etc. praisement. "SEC. 16. That if any person so cited to appear shall neglect or refuse to attend, or shall decline to answer, or shall refuse to answer in writing any interrogatories, and subscribe his name to his deposition, or to produce such papers when so required by a general appraiser, or a board Effect on ap- of general appraisers, or a local appraiser or a collector, he shall be liable to a penalty of one hundred dollars; and if such person be the owner, importer, or consignee, the appraisement which the general appraiser, or board of general appraisers, or local appraiser or collector, where there is no appraiser, may make of the merchandise shall be False swearing final and conclusive; and any person who shall willfully deemed perjury. and corruptly swear falsely on an examination before any general appraiser, or board of general appraisers, or local appraiser or collector, shall be deemed guilty of perjury; and if he is the owner, importer, or consignee, the merchandise shall be forfeited. Forfeiture. Decisions of general apprais ers. made. "SEC. 17. That all decisions of the general appraisers and of the boards of general appraisers, respecting values and rates of duty, shall be preserved and filed, and shall be open to inspection under proper regulations to be preReports to be scribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. All decisions of the general appraisers shall be reported forthwith to the Secretary of the Treasury and to the board of general appraisers on duty at the port of New York, and the report to the board shall be accompanied, whenever practicable, by samples of the merchandise in question, and it shall be the duty of the said board, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, to cause an abstract to be Abstract. made and published of such decisions of the appraisers as they may deem important, and of the decisions of each of the general appraisers and boards of general appraisers, which abstract shall contain a general description of the merchandise in question, and of the value and rate of Contents. duty fixed in each case, with reference, whenever practicable, by number or other designation, to samples deposited in the place of samples at New York, and such abstract shall be issued from time to time, at least once in each week, for the information of customs officers and the public. Publication. ad valorem du of actual market "SEC. 18. That whenever imported merchandise is sub- Assessment of ject to an ad valorem rate of duty, or to a duty based upon ties. or regulated in any manner by the value thereof, the duty shall be assessed upon the actual market value or wholesale price thereof, at the time of exportation to the United States, in the principal markets of. the country from whence exported; that such actual market value shall be Determination held to be the price at which such merchandise is freely value. offered for sale to all purchasers in said markets, in the usual wholesale quantities, and the price which the manufacturer or owner would have received, and was willing to receive, for such merchandise when sold in the ordinary course of trade in the usual wholesale quantities, including the value of all cartons, cases, crates, boxes, sacks, casks, barrels, hogsheads, bottles, jars, demijohns, carboys, and other containers or coverings, whether holding liquids or solids, and all other costs, charges and expenses incident to placing the merchandise in condition, packed ready for shipment to the United States, and if there be used for covering or holding imported merchandise, whether dutiable or free, any unusual article or form designed for use otherwise than in the bona fide transportation of such merchandise to the United States, additional duty shall be levied and collected upon such material or article at the rate to which the same would be subjected if sepa rately imported. That the words "value," or actual Value, actual market value," or "wholesale price," whenever used in and wholesale this Act, or in any law relating to the appraisement of price, construed. imported merchandise, shall be construed to be the actual market value or wholesale price of such, or similar merchandise comparable in value therewith, as defined in this Act. market value Withdrawals for consumption, "SEC. 19. Any merchandise deposited in any public or private bonded warehouse may be withdrawn for con- from warehouse. sumption within three years from the date of original importation, on payment of the duties and charges to which it may be subject by law at the time of such withdrawal: Provided, That nothing herein shall affect or im- Proviso. pair existing provisions of law in regard to the disposal of explosives. perishable or explosive articles. Perishables and in seizures. "SEC. 20. That in all suits or informations brought, Burden of proof where any seizure has been made pursuant to any Act providing for or regulating the collection of duties on im 28872°-$. Doc. 306, 62-2——25 Proviso. Probable cause required. Fees and oaths abolished, except export invoices. ports or tonnage, if the property is claimed by any person, the burden of proof shall lie upon such claimant: Provided, That probable cause is shown for such prosecution, to be judged of by the court. "SEC. 21. That all fees exacted and oaths administered herein provided. by officers of the customs, except as provided in this Act, under or by virtue of existing laws of the United States, upon the entry of imported goods and the passing thereof through the customs, and also upon all entries of domestic goods, wares, and merchandise for exportation, be, and the same are hereby, abolished; and in case of entry of Declaration for merchandise for exportation, a declaration, in lieu of an oath, shall be filed, in such form and under such regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury; and the penalties provided in the sixth section of this Act for false statements in such declaration shall be applicable to declarations made under this section: Provided, That where such fees, under existing laws, constitute, in whole or in part, the compensation of any officer, such officer shall receive, from and after the passage of this Act, a fixed sum for each year equal to the amount which he would have been entitled to receive as fees for such services during said year. Penalties. Proviso. lieu of fees. in Decay, etc., of perishable articles. Filing proof. "SEC. 22. No allowance shall be made in the estimation and liquidation of duties for shortage or nonimportation 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 of 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 Abandonment been granted to the owner or consignee. Nor shall any Application. of goods. Proviso. Minimum required. 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 of abandonment herein provided for may be exercised whether the goods, wares or merchandise have been damaged or not, or whether or not the Examining same have any commercial value: Provided, further, That section twenty-eight hundred and ninety-nine of the R.8., sec. 2899, Revised Statutes, relating to the return of packages unopened for appraisement, shall in no wise probibit the right of importe s to make all needful examinations to determine whether the right to abandon accrues, or goods by import ers. p. 562. abandoned goods. Fruit, etc., condemned by ties. whether by reason of total destruction there is a nonimportation in whole or in part. All merchandise aband- Delivery of doned 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 merchandise 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 ori- health authori ginal entry within ten days after handling, 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 a 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 nonimportation 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 nonimportation shall not be deemed established and no allowance shall be made in the liquidation of duties chargeable thereon. Establishment of proof. Refund of ex cess duties, etc. Permanent indefinite SEC. 23. That whenever it shall be shown to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Treasury that, in any case of unascertained or estimated duties, or payments made upon appeal, more money has been paid to or deposited with a collector of customs than, as has been ascertained by final liquidation thereof, the law required to be paid or deposited, the Secretary of the Treasury shall direct the Treasurer to refund and pay the same out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. The necessary moneys therefor are hereby appropriated, defppropri and this appropriation shall be deemed a permanent ation for indefinite appropriation; and the Secretary of the ical errors. Treasury is hereby authorized to correct manifest clerical errors in any entry or liquidation, for or against the United States, at any time within one year of the date of such entry, but not afterwards: Provided, That the Sec- Proviso. retary of the Treasury shall, in his annual report to Con- ment of refunds. gress, give a detailed statement of the various sums of money refunded under the provisions of this Act or of any other Act of Congress relating to the revenue, together with copies of the rulings under which repayments were made. Correcting cler Annual state |