Title 19 — Customs DutiesRelease 119-73
§1515 Review of protests
Title 19 › Chapter CHAPTER 4— - TARIFF ACT OF 1930 › Subtitle SUBTITLE III— - ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS › Part Part III— - Ascertainment, Collection, and Recovery of Duties › § 1515
Summary
A customs officer must review a protest within two years after it was filed unless the filer asks for an accelerated decision. The officer will allow or deny the protest, in whole or in part. If duties were paid in excess, customs must refund or remit them and pay any drawback owed. The filer can also ask, when filing the protest, for another customs officer to take a further review under rules the Secretary creates. The initial officer must decide whether to allow that further review within 30 days; if allowed, the protest is sent on. If a protest is denied, customs will mail a notice saying why and telling the filer they can go to court. A filer may request an accelerated decision by sending that request by certified or registered mail at or after filing the protest. If customs has not allowed or denied the protest within 30 days after that mailing, the protest is treated as denied on day 30 for purposes of starting a court case. If a request for further review was denied, the filer has 60 days to ask the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to set that denial aside; the Commissioner may act only on the original information and must act within 60 days or the request is treated as denied. All denials count from the original denial date for legal timing. If a court case in the Court of International Trade begins, agency actions on the protest stop and later agency actions are void. If a protest was properly filed but wrongly denied, customs may void that denial on its own or after a written request filed with the port director within 90 days of the denial.
Full Legal Text
Title 19, §1515
Customs Duties — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)Unless a request for an accelerated disposition of a protest is filed in accordance with subsection (b) of this section the appropriate customs officer, within two years from the date a protest was filed in accordance with section 1514 of this title, shall review the protest and shall allow or deny such protest in whole or in part. Thereafter, any duties, charge, or exaction found to have been assessed or collected in excess shall be remitted or refunded and any drawback found due shall be paid. Upon the request of the protesting party, filed within the time allowed for the filing of a protest under section 1514 of this title, a protest may be subject to further review by another appropriate customs officer, under the circumstances and in the form and manner that may be prescribed by the Secretary in regulations, but subject to the two-year limitation prescribed in the first sentence of this subsection. Within 30 days from the date an application for further review is filed, the appropriate customs officer shall allow or deny the application and, if allowed, the protest shall be forwarded to the customs officer who will be conducting the further review. Notice of the denial of any protest shall be mailed in the form and manner prescribed by the Secretary. Such notice shall include a statement of the reasons for the denial, as well as a statement informing the protesting party of his right to file a civil action contesting the denial of a protest under section 1514 of this title.
(b)A request for accelerated disposition of a protest filed in accordance with section 1514 of this title may be mailed by certified or registered mail to the appropriate customs officer any time concurrent with or following the filing of such protest. For purposes of section 1581 of title 28, a protest which has not been allowed or denied in whole or in part within thirty days following the date of mailing by certified or registered mail of a request for accelerated disposition shall be deemed denied on the thirtieth day following mailing of such request.
(c)If a protesting party believes that an application for further review was erroneously or improperly denied or was denied without authority for such action, it may file with the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection a written request that the denial of the application for further review be set aside. Such request must be filed within 60 days after the date of the notice of the denial. The Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection may review such request and, based solely on the information before the Customs Service at the time the application for further review was denied, may set aside the denial of the application for further review and void the denial of protest, if appropriate. If the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection fails to act within 60 days after the date of the request, the request shall be considered denied. All denials of protests are effective from the date of original denial for purposes of section 2636 of title 28. If an action is commenced in the Court of International Trade that arises out of a protest or an application for further review, all administrative action pertaining to such protest or application shall terminate and any administrative action taken subsequent to the commencement of the action is null and void.
(d)If a protest is timely and properly filed, but is denied contrary to proper instructions, the Customs Service may on its own initiative, or pursuant to a written request by the protesting party filed with the appropriate port director within 90 days after the date of the protest denial, void the denial of the protest.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Prior Provisions
Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in act Sept. 21, 1922, ch. 356, title IV, § 515, 42 Stat. 970. That section was superseded by section 515 of act
June 17, 1930, comprising this section, and repealed by section 651(a)(1) of the 1930 act. Provisions for transmission of the invoice, papers, and exhibits to the board of general appraisers in case of protest, and provisions concerning the conclusiveness of its determination, were contained in act Oct. 3, 1913, ch. 16, § III, N, 38 Stat. 187, the provisions of which were substituted for provisions of a similar nature in Customs Administrative Act of
June 10, 1890, ch. 407, § 14, 26 Stat. 137, as amended by Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act of Aug. 5, 1909, ch. 6, § 28, 36 Stat. 100.
Amendments
2004—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 108–429 substituted “concurrent with or” for “after ninety days” in first sentence. 1999—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 106–36 inserted after third sentence “Within 30 days from the date an application for further review is filed, the appropriate customs officer shall allow or deny the application and, if allowed, the protest shall be forwarded to the customs officer who will be conducting the further review.” 1996—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 104–295 substituted “port director” for “district director”. 1993—Subsecs. (c) and (d). Pub. L. 103–182 added subsecs. (c) and (d). 1980—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 96–417 substituted reference to section “1581” for “1582” of title 28. 1979—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 96–39 required that notice of denial include a statement of reasons for denial, as well as a statement informing protesting party of his right to file a civil action contesting denial of a protest under section 1514 of this title. 1970—Pub. L. 91–271 designating existing provisions as subsec. (a), substituted provisions authorizing review by appropriate customs officer for provisions authorizing review by collector and revised such review procedures, and added subsec. (b).
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Change of Name
“Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection” substituted for “Commissioner of Customs” wherever appearing in subsec. (c) on authority of section 802(d)(2) of Pub. L. 114–125, set out as a note under section 211 of Title 6, Domestic Security.
Effective Date
of 2004 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 108–429 applicable to merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after the 15th day after Dec. 3, 2004, see section 2108 of Pub. L. 108–429, set out as a note under section 1401 of this title.
Effective Date
of 1996 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 104–295 applicable as of Dec. 8, 1993, see section 3(b) of Pub. L. 104–295, set out as a note under section 1321 of this title.
Effective Date
of 1980 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 96–417 effective Nov. 1, 1980, and applicable with respect to civil actions pending on or commenced on or after such date, see section 701(a) of Pub. L. 96–417, set out as a note under section 251 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.
Effective Date
of 1979 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 96–39 effective Jan. 1, 1980, see section 1002 and 107 of Pub. L. 96–39, set out as
Effective Date
notes under section 1516a and 1671 of this title, respectively.
Effective Date
of 1970 AmendmentFor
Effective Date
of amendment by Pub. L. 91–271, see section 203 of Pub. L. 91–271, set out as a note under section 1500 of this title.
Transfer of Functions
For
Transfer of Functions
, personnel, assets, and liabilities of the United States Customs Service of the Department of the Treasury, including functions of the Secretary of the Treasury relating thereto, to the Secretary of Homeland Security, and for treatment of related references, see section 203(1), 551(d), 552(d), and 557 of Title 6, Domestic Security, and the Department of Homeland Security Reorganization Plan of
November 25, 2002, as modified, set out as a note under section 542 of Title 6. For establishment of U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the Department of Homeland Security, treated as if included in Pub. L. 107–296 as of Nov. 25, 2002, see section 211 of Title 6, as amended generally by Pub. L. 114–125, and section 802(b) of Pub. L. 114–125, set out as a note under section 211 of Title 6. Review of Protests in Import Surcharge Cases Pub. L. 93–618, title VI, § 611, Jan. 3, 1975, 88 Stat. 2075, provided that: “Notwithstanding the provisions of section 515(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1515(a)), in the case of any protest under section 514 of such Act [section 1514 of this title] involving the imposition of an import surcharge in the form of a supplemental duty pursuant to Presidential Proclamation 4074, dated
August 17, 1971 [formerly set out as a note preceding section 1202 of this title], the time for review and allowing or denying the protest shall not expire until five years from the date the protest was filed in accordance with such section 514 [section 1514 of this title].”
Executive Documents
Transfer of Functions
Functions of Secretary of the Treasury under this section insofar as they relate to any protest, petition, or notice of desire to contest described in section 1002(b)(1) of the Trade Agreements Act of 1979, set out as a note under section 1516a of this title, transferred to Secretary of Commerce pursuant to Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1979, § 5(a)(1)(D), 44 F.R. 69275, 93 Stat. 1381, eff. Jan. 2, 1980, as provided by section 1–107(a) of Ex. Ord. No. 12188, Jan. 2, 1980, 45 F.R. 993, set out as notes under section 2171 of this title.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
19 U.S.C. § 1515
Title 19 — Customs Duties
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73