[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 19, Volume 2]
[Revised as of April 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 19CFR151.4]

[Page 167-168]
 
                        TITLE 19--CUSTOMS DUTIES
 
  CHAPTER I--UNITED STATES CUSTOMS SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
 
PART 151--EXAMINATION, SAMPLING, AND TESTING OF MERCHANDISE--Table of Contents
 
                           Subpart A--General
 
Sec. 151.4  Time of examination.

    Imported merchandise shall not be opened, examined, or inspected 
until it has been entered under some form of entry for consumption or 
warehouse, except in the following cases:
    (a) Official Government examination and sampling. Authorized 
employees of the Customs Service, Food and Drug Administration, Animal 
and Plant Health Inspection Service, Public Health Service, or other 
Government agency may for official purposes examine or take samples of 
merchandise for which entry has not been filed, including merchandise 
being released under a special permit for immediate delivery.
    (b) Perishable merchandise, benzenoid chemicals, and merchandise 
received without an invoice. An application by the

[[Page 168]]

importer to examine merchandise, whether or not covered by an entry for 
transportation in bond or for exportation, may be granted by the port 
director, under the conditions listed in Sec. 151.5, in the following 
cases:
    (1) Examination of perishable merchandise is desired solely to 
determine its condition. This is not limited to a single examination, 
and there is no objection to incidental display to prospective buyers 
during the examination.
    (2) [Reserved]
    (3) The importer has been unable to obtain the required documents or 
information to make the necessary entry, and examination of the 
merchandise is required to obtain information for the preparation of a 
pro forma invoice to be used in making entry.
    (c) Examination of merchandise entered for transportation under bond 
or for exportation--(1) Examination, sampling, weighing or emergency 
operation. As a bona fide incident to exportation or further 
transportation, the importer of merchandise entered or withdrawn for 
transportation under bond or for exportation may, upon written 
application to the port director supported by a valid business reason 
for the request, be permitted to examine, sample, weigh, or subject his 
merchandise to an operation required by reason of an emergency, provided 
that any operation performed on the merchandise does not constitute a 
manufacture, and that Sec. 151.5 is complied with. For conditions 
governing transshipment and emergency access to the shipment by the 
carrier, see Sec. 18.3 of this chapter.
    (2) Nonemergency operation. In cases not involving an emergency, an 
operation not constituting a manufacture may be permitted under the 
conditions listed in paragraph (c)(1) of this section if neither the 
protection of the revenue nor the proper conduct of Customs business 
requires that the operation be done in a Customs bonded warehouse, 
provided that the importer's written application for such operation is 
approved by the port director.

[T.D. 73-175, 38 FR 17470, July 2, 1973, as amended by T.D. 95-99, 60 FR 
62733, Dec. 7, 1995; T.D. 97-82, 62 FR 51771, Oct. 3, 1997]