I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4337
To amend the customs laws of the United States relating to procedures
with respect to the importation of merchandise.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 13, 2000
Mr. THOMAS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To amend the customs laws of the United States relating
to procedures with respect to the importation of merchandise.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. MINIMAL DATA REQUIRED TO RELEASE IM-
PORTED MERCHANDISE FROM CUSTOMS CUS-
TODY.
(a) ENTRY OF MERCHANDISE.—Section 484(a) of
the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1484(a)) is amended—
(1) by striking clause (i) of paragraph (1)(A)
and inserting the following:
‘‘(i) only such documentation or, pur-
suant to an electronic data interchange
system, only such information as is nec-
essary to enable the Customs Service to
determine whether the merchandise may be
released from customs custody, and’’;
(2) in paragraph (2)—
(A) by redesignating subparagraphs (B)
and (C) as subparagraphs (C) and (D), respec-
tively;
(B) by striking ‘‘(2)(A)’’ and inserting
‘‘(B)’’; and
(C) by inserting before subparagraph (B),
as redesignated by this paragraph, the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(2)(A) Unless the Customs Service has grant-
ed the importer an alternative means to obtain re-
lease, the information required by paragraph (1)
shall include—
‘‘(i) a description of the imported merchan-
dise;
‘‘(ii) the classification of the merchandise
under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the
United States to the sixth digit;
‘‘(iii) the country of origin of the imported
merchandise; and
‘‘(iv) other import documentation or cer-
tification required to determine whether the
merchandise may be admitted into the United
States.’’.
(b) 
EXAMINATION
OF
MERCHANDISE.—Section
499(a)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C.
1499(a)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘until the merchan-
dise has been inspected, appraised, or examined and is re-
ported by the Customs Service to have been truly and cor-
rectly invoiced and found to comply with the requirements
of the laws of the United States’’ and inserting ‘‘until the
merchandise has been determined through inspection, ex-
amination, or other method to pose no threat to the public
health, safety, or welfare and that the merchandise de-
scription and origin are correctly stated’’.
(c) DEFINITION OF ELECTRONIC ENTRY.—Section
401(o)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C.
1401(o)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘for the entry of mer-
chandise’’ and inserting ‘‘to determine whether the mer-
chandise may be released because it does not pose a threat
to the public health, safety, or welfare and to determine
that the merchandise description and origin are correctly
stated.’’
SEC. 2. REMOTE FILING.
Section 414(a)(2)(A)(ii) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19
U.S.C. 1414(a)(2)(A)(ii)) is amended by inserting ‘‘or im-
port activity summary statement’’ after ‘‘the electronic
entry summary’’.
SEC. 3. IMPORTER ACTIVITY SUMMARY STATEMENT CLARI-
FICATION.
(a) ENTRY OF MERCHANDISE.—Section 484(a) of
the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1484(a)) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (1)(B) by inserting ‘‘as part
of an entry summary or, in the alternative, an im-
port activity summary statement’’ after ‘‘complete
the entry by filing with the Customs Service’’; and
(2) by inserting at the end of paragraph (2)(B)
the following:
‘‘Information filed as part of an import activity sum-
mary statement shall be sufficient for purposes of
paragraph (1)(B) if the monthly activity is totaled
by tariff number, country of origin, and any relevant
special duty program indicators. Such information,
aggregated by tariff number, country of origin, and
relevant special duty program, may vary from the in-
formation contained in the underlying documents,
electronically transmitted information, or written or
oral statements for individual shipments, and such
variances shall, in the absence of fraud, be consid-
ered to be clerical errors for purposes of section
592.’’.
(b) DEFINITION OF ELECTRONIC ENTRY.—Section
401(o)(2) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C.
1401(o)(2)) is amended by inserting ‘‘or import activity
summary statement information’’ after ‘‘entry summary
information’’.
(c) DEFINITION
OF IMPORT ACTIVITY SUMMARY
STATEMENT.—Section 401(r) of the Tariff Act of 1930
(19 U.S.C. 1401(r)) is amended by adding at the end the
following: ‘‘In the importer activity summary statement,
information during the period may be provided in the ag-
gregate by tariff numbers, country of origin, and any rel-
evant special duty program indicators. Information relat-
ing to specific entries or shipments shall not be required.
For purposes of the administration of the customs laws,
the importer activity summary statement shall be treated
as an ‘entry’.’’.
SEC. 4. MIDPOINT INTEREST.
Section 505(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C.
1505(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘For the period begin-
ning on’’ and all that follows through ‘‘the Secretary may
prescribe’’ and inserting ‘‘The Secretary shall prescribe’’.
SEC. 5. RECONCILIATION CHANGES AND CLARIFICATION.
Section 484(b)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19
U.S.C. 1484(b)(1)) is amended—
(1) by inserting after the third sentence the fol-
lowing new sentence: ‘‘However, a party shall not be
required to indicate on an individual import entry,
entry summary, or import activity summary state-
ment basis whether a reconciliation will be filed ex-
cept to the extent that the party wishes to allocate
information specifically to an import entry, entry
summary, or importer activity summary statement.’’;
and
(2) by striking the first sentence and inserting
the following: ‘‘A party may elect to file a reconcili-
ation with respect to any information required to be
filed under subsection (a)(1)(B) as identified by the
party in a manner prescribed by the Secretary pur-
suant to regulations.’’.
SEC. 6. NETTING AND OFFSETTING.
Section 592 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C.
1592) is amended—
(1) by adding at the end of subsection (a)(2)
the following: ‘‘Absent fraud, variances between any
document or electronically transmitted information,
or written or oral statements, with respect to indi-
vidual shipments and the aggregate information
properly filed as part of an entry summary, an im-
port activity summary statement, or a reconciliation
under part III of title IV shall be considered to be
clerical errors.’’;
(2) by adding at the end of subsection (a) the
following:
‘‘(3) MATERIAL INCORRECT STATEMENTS AND
OMISSIONS.—To the extent that the effect of incor-
rect information presented or information omitted by
a person in an entry, entry summary, import activity
summary statement, or reconciliation is reduced by
other information in or relating to the same or other
entries, entry summaries, import activity summary
statements, or reconciliations during the relevant pe-
riod, the violation shall be material only to the ex-
tent of the net error or omission.’’; and
(3) by adding at the end of subsection (d) the
following: ‘‘To the extent that the deprivation of du-
ties, taxes, or fees is offset by overpayments of du-
ties, taxes, or fees during the relevant period, the
Customs Service shall collect only the net under-
payment.’’.
SEC. 7. CIRCUMSTANCES OF SALE.
Section 402(b)(2) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19
U.S.C. 1401(b)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the
following new subparagraph:
‘‘(D) In determining whether the circumstances of
the sale of the imported merchandise indicate that the re-
lationship between the buyer and seller did not influence
the price actually paid or payable, there shall be taken
into account other sales during a representative timeframe
in the normal course of trade in merchandise of the same
class or kind.’’.
SEC. 8. DESTRUCTION DRAWBACK.
Section 313 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C.
1313) is amended—
(1) in subsection (i)—
(A) by inserting ‘‘OR DESTRUCTION’’ after
‘‘EXPORTATION’’ in the subsection heading;
(B) by striking ‘‘No drawback’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘Unless otherwise provided for in this sec-
tion, no drawback’’; and
(C) by inserting ‘‘or destroyed under Cus-
toms supervision’’ after ‘‘is exported’’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(x) DESTRUCTION DEFINED.—
‘‘(1) For purposes of this section, the term ‘de-
struction’ means the complete destruction, as items
of commerce, of merchandise or articles such that no
valuable waste or scrap results, except as provided
in paragraph (2).
‘‘(2) If waste or scrap resulting from the de-
struction of merchandise or articles has commercial
value, then drawback under this section is allowable
based on the quantity of merchandise or articles de-
stroyed, reduced by an amount equal to the quantity
of the destroyed merchandise or articles that the
value of the waste or scrap would replace.’’.
SEC. 9. INSTRUMENTS OF INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC.
(a) INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC AND RESCUE WORK.—
Section 322(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C.
1322(a)) is amended by amending the first sentence to
read as follows: ‘‘Vehicles and any other instruments of
international traffic, of any class specified by the Sec-
retary of the Treasury, shall be exempted from the appli-
cation of the customs laws to such extent and subject to
such terms and conditions as may be prescribed in regula-
tions or instructions of the Secretary of the Treasury. The
term ‘instruments of international traffic’ includes all
types of containers and shipping devices such as lift vans,
cargo vans, shipping tanks, skids, pallets, racks, boxes,
materials for stuffing containers, and other similar
items.’’.
(b) EXCLUSION FROM HARMONIZED TARIFF SCHED-
ULE.—General Note 16 of the Harmonized Tariff Sched-
ule of the United States is amended—
(1) in paragraph (e) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the
comma at the end:
(2) in paragraph (f) by adding ‘‘and’’ after the
comma at the end: and
(2) by inserting after paragraph (f) the fol-
lowing new paragraph:
‘‘(g) containers and shipping devices such as lift
vans, cargo vans, shipping tanks, skids, pallets,
racks, boxes, materials for stuffing containers, and
other similar items,’’.
SEC. 10. ENTIRETIES.
The General Notes of the Harmonized Tariff Sched-
ule of the United States is amended by adding at the end
the following new General Note:
‘‘22. Entireties. Importations of any part or component
for the complete or finished dies under subheading
8207.30, machinery tools and equipment under chap-
ter 84 or 85, and machinery tools and equipment
under chapter 90 may, at the option of the importer,
be classified under the specific heading or subheading
for the complete or finished article with which it is
to be used, installed, or assembled if the importer—
‘‘(i) files an election with or before the filing of any
one of the following with respect to such part
or component: entry summary, importer activity
summary statement, or reconciliation; and
‘‘(ii) demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Customs
Service a preexisting binding agreement for the
purchase by the importer of the complete article
for which the part or component is being im-
ported.’’.
Æ