[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 27, Volume 1]
[Revised as of April 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 27CFR72.34]

[Page 1088]
 
            TITLE 27--ALCOHOL, TOBACCO PRODUCTS AND FIREARMS
 
 CHAPTER I--ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO TAX AND TRADE BUREAU, DEPARTMENT OF THE 
                                TREASURY
 
PART 72--DISPOSITION OF SEIZED PERSONAL PROPERTY--Table of Contents
 
            Subpart D--Remission or Mitigation of Forfeitures
 
Sec. 72.34  Contents of the petition.

    (a) Description of the property. The petition should contain such a 
description of the property or carrier and such facts of the seizure as 
will enable the alcohol, tobacco and firearms officers concerned to 
identify the property or carrier.
    (b) Statement regarding knowledge of seizure. In the event the 
petition is filed for the restoration of the proceeds derived from sale 
of the property or carrier pursuant to summary forfeiture, it should 
also contain, or be supported by, satisfactory proof that the petitioner 
did not know of the seizure prior to the declaration or condemnation of 
forfeiture, and that he was in such circumstances as prevented him from 
knowing of the same. (See also Sec. 72.35.)
    (c) Interest of petitioner. The petitioner should state in clear and 
concise terms the nature and amount of the present interest of the 
petitioner in the property or carrier, and the facts relied upon to show 
that the forfeiture was incurred without willful negligence or without 
any intention upon the part of the petitioner to defraud the revenue or 
to violate the law, or such other mitigating circumstances as, in the 
opinion of the petitioner, would justify the remission or mitigation of 
the forfeiture.
    (d) Petitioner innocent party. If the petitioner is not the one who 
in person committed the act which caused the seizure the petition should 
state how the property or carrier came into the possession of such other 
person, and that the petitioner had no knowledge or reason to believe, 
if such be the fact, that the property or carrier would be used in 
violation of law. If known to the petitioner, at the time the petition 
is filed, that such other person had either a record or a reputation, or 
both, as a violator in the field of commercial crime, the petition 
should state whether the petitioner had actual knowledge of such record 
or reputation, or both, before the petitioner acquired his interest in 
the property or carrier, before such other person acquired his right in 
the property or carrier, whichever occurred later. When personal 
property is seized for violation of the liquor laws, the determining 
factor will be whether the person dealt with by the petitioner had 
either a record or a reputation, or both, as a violator of the liquor 
laws.
    (e) Documents supporting claim. The petition should also be 
accompanied by copies, certified by the petitioner under oath as 
correct, of contracts, bills of sale, chattel mortgages, reports of 
investigators or credit reporting agencies, affidavits, and any other 
papers or documents that would tend to support the claims made in the 
petition.
    (f) Costs. The petition should also contain an undertaking to pay 
the costs, if costs are assessed as a condition of allowance of the 
petition. Costs shall include all the expenses incurred in seizing and 
storing the property or carrier; the costs borne or to be borne by the 
United States; the taxes, if any, payable by the petitioner or imposed 
in respect of the property or carrier to which the petition relates; the 
penalty, if any, asserted by the Director; and, if the property or 
carrier has been sold, or is in the course of being sold, the expenses 
so incurred.