Title 19Customs DutiesRelease 119-73

§1331 General powers

Title 19 › Chapter CHAPTER 4— - TARIFF ACT OF 1930 › Subtitle SUBTITLE II— - SPECIAL PROVISIONS › Part Part II— - United States International Trade Commission › § 1331

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The chairman runs the commission’s day-to-day work. He hires and sets pay for the commission’s staff (but not a commissioner’s personal aides), brings in experts and consultants under federal rules, and handles other admin duties. He can accept gifts or property to help the commission. Any choice the chairman makes can be overturned by a majority of the commissioners in office. With that same majority approval, the chairman may fire high-level supervisors paid at GS–15 or higher and prepare the commission’s yearly budget. Commissioners may not speak for the whole commission about policies unless the commission has officially adopted those views. Most employees must be chosen from lists supplied by the Office of Personnel Management under civil service law, except those exempted by civil service rules. The commission pays approved travel and other expenses on itemized vouchers. Its main office is in Washington but it can meet or investigate anywhere in the U.S. or abroad. It may keep an office at the Port of New York for investigations and may adopt an official seal recognized by courts.

Full Legal Text

Title 19, §1331

Customs Duties — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)(1)(A)Except as provided in paragraph (2), the chairman of the Commission shall—
(i)appoint and fix the compensation of such employees of the Commission as he deems necessary (other than the personal staff of each commissioner), including the secretary,
(ii)procure the services of experts and consultants in accordance with the provisions of section 3109 of title 5, and
(iii)exercise and be responsible for all other administrative functions of the Commission.
(B)The chairman of the Commission may accept, hold, administer, and utilize gifts, devises, and bequests of property, both real and personal, for the purpose of aiding or facilitating the work of the Commission.
(C)Any decision by the chairman under subparagraph (A) or (B) shall be subject to disapproval by a majority vote of all the commissioners in office.
(2)Subject to approval by a majority vote of all the commissioners in office, the chairman may—
(A)terminate the employment of any supervisory employee of the Commission whose duties involve substantial personal responsibility for Commission matters and who is compensated at a rate equal to, or in excess of, the rate for grade GS–15 of the General Schedule in section 5332 of title 5, and
(B)formulate the annual budget of the Commission.
(3)No member of the Commission, in making public statements with respect to any policy matter for which the Commission has responsibility, shall represent himself as speaking for the Commission, or his views as being the views of the Commission, with respect to such matter except to the extent that the Commission has adopted the policy being expressed.
(b)Except for employees excepted under civil service rules, all employees of the commission shall be appointed from lists of eligibles to be supplied by the Director of the Office of Personnel Management and in accordance with the civil service law.
(c)All of the expenses of the commission, including all necessary expenses for transportation incurred by the commissioners or by their employees under their orders in making any investigation or upon official business in any other places than at their respective headquarters, shall be allowed and paid on the presentation of itemized vouchers therefor approved by the chairman (except that in the case of a commissioner, or the personal staff of any commissioner, such vouchers may be approved by that commissioner).
(d)The principal office of the commission shall be in the city of Washington, but it may meet and exercise all its powers at any other place. The commission may, by one or more of its members, or by such agents as it may designate, prosecute any inquiry necessary to its duties in any part of the United States or in any foreign country.
(e)The commission is authorized to establish and maintain an office at the port of New York for the purpose of directing or carrying on any investigation, receiving and compiling statistics, selecting, describing, and filing samples of articles, and performing any of the duties or exercising any of the powers imposed upon it by law.
(f)The commission is authorized to adopt an official seal, which shall be judicially noticed.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification In subsec. (a), provisions which specified a salary of $7,500 per year for the secretary to the commission have been omitted as obsolete and superseded. section 1202 and 1204 of the Classification Act of 1949, 63 Stat. 972, 973, repealed the Classification Act of 1923 and all other laws or parts of laws inconsistent with the 1949 Act. The Classification Act of 1949 was repealed by Pub. L. 89–554, Sept. 6, 1966, § 8(a), 80 Stat. 632, and reenacted as chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees. Section 5102 of Title 5 contains the applicability provisions of the 1949 Act, and section 5103 of Title 5 authorizes the Office of Personnel Management to determine the applicability to specific positions and employees. In subsec. (b), the words “Except for employees excepted under the civil service rules” substituted for “With the exception of the secretary, a clerk to each commissioner, and such special experts as the commission may from time to time find necessary for the conduct of its work”. Appointments are now subject to the civil service laws unless specifically excepted by such laws or by laws enacted subsequent to Executive Order 8743, Apr. 23, 1941, issued by the President pursuant to the act of Nov. 26, 1940, ch. 919, title I, § 1, 54 Stat. 1211, which covered most excepted positions into the classified (competitive) civil service. The Order is set out as a note under section 3301 of Title 5.

Prior Provisions

Provisions similar to subsecs. (a) to (e) of this section were contained in act Sept. 8, 1916, ch. 463, § 701, 39 Stat. 975. That section was superseded by section 331 of act
June 17, 1930, comprising this section. Provisions similar to those in subsecs. (f) and (g) of this section were contained in act Sept. 21, 1922, ch. 356, title III, § 318, 42 Stat. 947. That section was superseded by section 331 of act
June 17, 1930, comprising this section, and repealed by section 651(a)(1) of the 1930 act.

Amendments

1983—Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 97–456 designated existing provisions relating to the chairman’s exercise of and responsibility for all administrative functions as subpar. (A), redesignated former subpars. (A) through (C) as cls. (i) through (iii), added subpar. (B), designated provisions relating to disapproval by a majority of the commissioners of any decision by the chairman as subpar. (C), and in (C) as so designated, substituted “subparagraph (A) or (B)” for “this paragraph” after “chairman under”. 1977—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 95–106, § 3(a), designated existing provisions as par. (1), substituted provisions authorizing the chairman to perform certain required functions subject to approval by the Commission for provisions authorizing the Commission to perform certain required functions and inserted provisions requiring the chairman to exercise and be responsible for all other administrative functions of the Commission, and added pars. (2) and (3). Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 95–106, § 3(b)(1), substituted “approved by the chairman (except that in the case of a commissioner, or the personal staff of any commissioner, such vouchers may be approved by that commissioner)” for “approved by the Commission”. Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 95–106, § 3(b)(2), redesignated subsecs. (e) to (g) as (d) to (f), respectively. Former subsec. (d), relating to offices and supplies, was struck out.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1977 Amendment Pub. L. 95–106, § 3(c), Aug. 17, 1977, 91 Stat. 869, provided that: “The

Amendments

made by this section [amending this section] take effect on the date of enactment of this Act [Aug. 17, 1977].”

Executive Documents

Transfer of Functions

“Director of the Office of Personnel Management” substituted for “Civil Service Commission” in subsec. (b) pursuant to Reorg. Plan No. 2 of 1978, § 102, 43 F.R. 36037, 92 Stat. 3783, set out under section 1101 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, which transferred functions vested by statute in Civil Service Commission to Director of Office of Personnel Management (except as otherwise specified), effective Jan. 1, 1979, as provided by section 1–102 of Ex. Ord. No. 12107, Dec. 28, 1978, 44 F.R. 1055, set out under section 1101 of Title 5.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

19 U.S.C. § 1331

Title 19Customs Duties

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73