[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 19, Volume 1]
[Revised as of April 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 19CFR10.41a]

[Page 103-105]
 
                        TITLE 19--CUSTOMS DUTIES
 
  CHAPTER I--UNITED STATES CUSTOMS SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
 
PART 10--ARTICLES CONDITIONALLY FREE, SUBJECT TO A REDUCED RATE, ETC.--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 10.41a  Lift vans, cargo vans, shipping tanks, skids, pallets, and similar instruments of international traffic; repair components.

    (a)(1) Lift vans, cargo vans, shipping tanks, skids, pallets, caul 
boards, and cores for textile fabrics, arriving (whether loaded or 
empty) in use or to be used in the shipment of merchandise in 
international traffic are hereby designated as ``instruments of 
international traffic'' within the meaning of section 322(a), Tariff Act 
of 1930, as amended. The Commissioner of Customs is authorized to 
designate as instruments of international traffic, in decisions to be 
published in the weekly Customs Bulletin, such additional articles or 
classes of articles as he shall find should be so designated. Such 
instruments may be released without entry or the payment of duty, 
subject to the provisions of this section.
    (2) Repair components, accessories, and equipment for any container 
of foreign production which is an instrument of international traffic 
may be entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption without the 
deposit of duty if the person making the entry or withdrawal from 
warehouse files a declaration that the repair component was imported to 
be used in the repair of a container of foreign production which is an 
instrument of international traffic, or that the accessory or equipment 
is for a container of foreign production which is an instrument of 
international traffic. The port director must be satisfied that the 
importer of the repair component, accessory, or equipment had the 
declared intention at the time of importation.
    (3) As used in this section, ``instruments of international 
traffic'' includes the normal accessories and equipment imported with 
any such instrument which is a ``container'' as defined in Article 1 of 
the Customs Convention on Containers.
    (b) The reexportation of a container, as defined in Article 1 of the 
Customs Convention on Containers, which has become badly damaged, shall 
not be required in the case of a duly authenticated accident if the 
container (1) is subjected to applicable import duties and import taxes, 
or (2) is abandoned free of all expense to the Government or destroyed 
under Customs supervision at the expense of the parties concerned, 
following the procedure outlined in Sec. 158.43(c) of this chapter. Any 
salvaged parts and materials shall be subjected to applicable import 
duties and import taxes. Replaced parts which are not reexported shall 
be subjected to import duties and import taxes except where abandoned 
free of expense to the Government or destroyed under Customs supervision 
at the expense of the parties concerned.
    (c) The instruments of international traffic designated in paragraph 
(a) of this section may be released in accordance with the provisions of 
that paragraph only after the applicant for such release has filed a 
bond on Customs Form 301, containing the bond conditions set forth in 
Sec. 113.66 of this chapter. The required application may be filed at 
the port of arrival or at a subsequent port to which an instrument shall 
have been transported in bond or to which a container shall have been 
moved under cover of a TIR carnet (see part 114 of this chapter) showing 
the characteristics and value of the container on the Goods Manifest of 
the carnet. If the container is listed on the Goods Manifest of the 
carnet, the application may be filed at the port of arrival or at the 
subsequent port. If the container is not listed on the Goods Manifest, 
the application shall be filed at the port of arrival. When the 
application is filed at a port other than the port at which the bond is 
on file, the following procedure applies:
    (1) When the application is filed before the fact of approval of the 
applicant's bond has been established, the applicant must submit with 
the application, or the Customs officer to whom the application is made 
must obtain, evidence that a current bond is on file at another port. 
That evidence may consist of a certified copy of the bond,

[[Page 104]]

or any other evidence which will satisfy the Customs officer to whom the 
application is made that a current bond is on file at another port.
    (2) If the application is filed after the fact of approval of the 
applicant's bond has been established, a certified copy of that bond 
need not be filed at the port of release. Upon determination by the 
appropriate Customs officer that the fact of approval of the applicant's 
bond has been established, and the bond has not been subsequently 
discontinued, the instruments of international traffic will be released 
as provided for in paragraph (a) of this section.
    (3) Upon the request of the applicant, the appropriate Customs 
officer at the port at which the instruments of international traffic 
are to be released will determine whether or not the fact of approval of 
the applicant's bond has been established. If the approval has not been 
established, the Customs officer with whom the application has been 
filed will advise the applicant of the nature of the evidence required 
to establish the fact that a current bond is on file at another port.
    (d) If an instrument of foreign origin, or of United States origin 
which has been increased in value or improved in condition by a process 
of manufacture or other means while abroad, is released under this 
section and is subsequently diverted to point-to-point local traffic 
within the United States, or is otherwise withdrawn in the United States 
from its use as an instrument of international traffic, it becomes 
subject to entry and the payment of any applicable duties. An instrument 
of United States origin which has not been increased in value or 
improved in condition by a process of manufacture or other means while 
abroad and which is released under this section shall not be subject to 
entry or the payment of duty if it is so diverted or otherwise 
withdrawn.
    (e) The person who filed the application for release under paragraph 
(a)(1) of this section shall promptly notify a director of a port of 
entry in the United States as defined in Section 401(k), Tariff Act of 
1930, as amended, (1) that the container is to be abandoned or 
destroyed, as described in paragraph (b) of this section, or (2) that 
the instrument is the subject of a diversion or withdrawal as described 
in paragraph (d) of this section, in which event he shall file with the 
port director a consumption entry for the instrument and pay all import 
duties and import taxes due on the container or instrument at the rate 
or rates in effect and in its condition on the date of such diversion or 
withdrawal.
    (f)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (j) of this section, an 
instrument of international traffic (other than a container as defined 
in Article 1 of the Customs Convention on Containers that is governed by 
paragraphs (g) (1)-(3) of this section) may be used as follows in point-
to-point traffic, provided such traffic is incidental to the efficient 
and economical utilization of the instrument in the course of its use in 
international traffic:
    (i) Picking up and delivering loads at intervening points in the 
United States while en route between the port of arrival and the point 
of destination of its imported cargo; or
    (ii) Picking up and delivering loads at intervening points in the 
United States while en route from the point of destination of imported 
cargo to a point where export cargo is to be loaded or to an exterior 
port of departure by a reasonably direct route to, or nearer to, the 
place of such loading or departure.
    (2) Neither use as enumerated in paragraph (f)(1)(i) or (ii) of this 
section constitutes a diversion to unpermitted point-to-point local 
traffic within the United States or a withdrawal of an instrument in the 
United States from its use as an instrument of international traffic 
under this section.
    (g)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (j) of this section, a 
container (as defined in Article 1 of the Customs Convention on 
Containers) that is designated as an instrument of international traffic 
is deemed to remain in international traffic provided that the container 
exits the U.S. within 365 days of the date on that it was admitted under 
this section. An exit from the U.S. in this context means a movement 
across the border of the United States into a foreign country where 
either:

[[Page 105]]

    (i) All merchandise is unladen from the container; or
    (ii) Merchandise is laden aboard the container (if the container is 
empty).
    (2) The person who filed the application for release under paragraph 
(a)(1) of this section is responsible for keeping and maintaining such 
records, otherwise generated and retained in the ordinary course of 
business, as may be necessary to establish the international movements 
of the containers. Such records shall be made available for inspection 
by Customs officials upon reasonable notice.
    (3) If the container does not exit the U.S. within 365 days of the 
date on which it is admitted under this section, such container shall be 
considered to have been removed from international traffic, and entry 
for consumption must be made within 10 business days after the end of 
the month in which the container is deemed removed from international 
traffic. When entry is required under this section, any containers 
considered removed from international traffic in the same month may be 
listed on one entry. Such entry may be made at any port of entry. Under 
19 U.S.C. 1484(a)(1)(B), the importer of record is required, using 
reasonable care, to complete the entry by filing with Customs the 
declared value, classification and rate of duty applicable to the 
merchandise. The importer of record must use the value of the container 
as determined in accordance with section 402, Tariff Act of 1930 (19 
U.S.C. 1401a), as amended by the Trade Agreements Act of 1979 (TAA).
    (h) For failure promptly to report the diversion or withdrawal or 
promptly to make the required entry and pay the duties due, the 
applicant shall be liable for the payment of liquidated damages equal to 
the domestic value of the instrument established in accordance with 
Section 606, Tariff Act of 1930.
    (i) When an instrument of international traffic, as provided in 
paragraph (a) of this section, is returned to the United States and 
released in accordance with the provisions of that paragraph, any 
repairs which may have been made to the instrument while it was abroad 
are not subject to entry or the payment of duty whether the instrument 
is of foreign or domestic manufacture, whether it left the United States 
empty or loaded, and whether or not the repairs made abroad were in 
contemplation when the instrument left the United States.
    (j) Containers and other articles designated as instruments of 
international traffic in accordance with this section are nevertheless 
subject to the application of the coastwise laws of the United States, 
with particular reference to Section 883, Title 46, United States Code 
(see Sec. 4.93 of this chapter).

[28 FR 14663, Dec. 31, 1963]

    Editorial Note: For Federal Register citations affecting 
Sec. 10.41a, see the List of CFR Sections Affected, which appears in the 
Finding Aids section of the printed volume and on GPO Access.