Title 19 — Customs DutiesRelease 119-73
§338 Indorsement upon invoice; port of entry
Title 19 › Chapter CHAPTER 3— - THE TARIFF AND RELATED PROVISIONS › Subtitle SUBTITLE IV— - CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATION › Part part 3— - ascertainment, collection, and recovery of duties › § 338
Summary
When someone asks a consul or vice‑consul to certify an invoice, they must also say which U.S. port they plan to bring the goods into. The consul or vice‑consul must sign and seal each of the three copies, and write that the invoice was shown to them, the date, the name of the person who showed it, and the declared port of entry.
Full Legal Text
Title 19, §338
Customs Duties — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
The person producing an invoice for certification shall at the same time declare to the consul or vice consul the port in the United States at which it is intended to make entry of merchandise; whereupon the consul, or vice consul, shall indorse upon each of the triplicates a certificate, under his hand and official seal, stating that the invoice has been produced to him, with the date of such production, and the name of the person by whom the same was produced, and the port in the United States at which it shall be the declared intention to make entry of the merchandise therein mentioned.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Codification R.S. § 2855 derived from act Mar. 3, 1863, ch. 76, § 1, 12 Stat. 738. Section is based on the first sentence of R.S. § 2855. The second sentence of R.S. § 2855, which related to the disposition of certified copies of invoices, was superseded by section 482(e) of the Tariff Act of 1922, and later by section 482(e) of the Tariff Act of 1933 which is classified to section 1482(e) of this title.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
19 U.S.C. § 338
Title 19 — Customs Duties
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73