§1555 Bonded warehouses

Summary

The Secretary of the Treasury can approve buildings or parts of buildings to be bonded warehouses. These places can hold imported goods that are in customs custody, seized, or entered for warehousing, and they can be used for making, repacking, sorting, or cleaning goods while they stay under customs control. Warehouses can be private (for the owner’s own goods) or public (for general storage). Before any imported goods that are not finally released by customs go into a bonded warehouse, the owner or lessee must post a bond approved by the Secretary to protect the Government. A customs officer and the warehouse owner share custody of the goods. The warehouse owner must do the work on the goods under the officer’s supervision and pay the costs. The owner must also reimburse the Government for the pay of customs staff who supervise warehouse receipts and deliveries. Duty-free stores can sell and deliver goods for export under rules the Secretary makes. A duty-free store may be in the same port of entry as the traveler, within 25 statute miles of the traveler’s exit point, or in a port of entry (or within 25 miles of a staffed port) if there is reasonable assurance the sale will be exported from an international airport. Duty-free businesses must have procedures to make sure goods will be exported. Airport stores must limit sales to personal-use amounts. Stores must post clear signs saying the goods have not been taxed, must be declared and may owe duty if brought back, and are subject to foreign customs. Stores do not have to mark each item unless people keep bringing items back without declaring them. They may unpack goods for sale. Airport stores must deliver goods so they will leave the customs territory (for example, in restricted airport areas, at the flight’s exit point, placed on the aircraft as baggage, or another reasonable way if those fail). Border stores must deliver at or beyond the exit point or at locations approved before the Omnibus Trade Act of 1987. If local authorities require a concession or approval to use an exit facility, the duty-free operator must show the Secretary that it was obtained before moving goods there. Duty-free shops may sell other goods, but those other goods cannot be stored in bonded warehouses except bonded retail facilities. Duty-free purchases generally are not eligible for certain duty exemptions if brought back, except U.S. residents (not involving transit to or through an insular possession) may qualify for exemptions under HTS subheadings 9804.00.65, 9804.00.70, and 9804.00.72 if they meet the rules. The Secretary must create a separate class of bonded warehouses for duty-free stores and make rules that fit different kinds of duty-free businesses. Defined terms (one line each): airport store — duty-free store serving travelers at an international airport; border store — duty-free store serving land or water border departures; customs territory — the United States customs area and foreign trade zones; duty-free sales enterprise — seller of goods for export from a bonded warehouse to departing travelers; duty-free merchandise — goods not yet charged Federal duty or tax pending export; exit point — area near where a traveler leaves the customs territory (like a gate holding area); personal use quantities — amounts reasonable for household use or gifts; international travel merchandise — goods placed on international flights for sale to passengers; staging area — area outside the bonded warehouse where carts are handled; manipulation — repackaging, cleaning, sorting, or moving merchandise on carts; cart — portable container holding merchandise on an aircraft. The Secretary must also set up a separate bonded-warehouse class for international travel merchandise, require a bond for the warehouse and staging area, and allow rules about when custody and liability move between carriers and warehouse proprietors and about recordkeeping for carts.