[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 19, Volume 2]

[Revised as of April 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 19CFR151.4]



[Page 170]

 

                        TITLE 19--CUSTOMS DUTIES

 

   CHAPTER I--BUREAU OF CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION, DEPARTMENT OF 

        HOMELAND SECURITY; DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY (CONTINUED)

 

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 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transportation, the importer of merchandise entered or withdrawn for 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]