§1594 — Title 19 Customs Duties | U.S. Code

Summary

Customs can seize a ship, plane, or vehicle when illegal goods are found on it in certain ways. If a carrier is operating as a common carrier, the vehicle usually will not be seized for customs violations when the goods are on a person, in a passenger’s baggage that travels with them, or in cargo that is properly listed on the shipping papers and whose package labels, numbers, weights, and counts match those papers. An owner’s share of a vehicle is also generally safe from forfeiture for a drug offense if the owner proves the crime happened without their knowledge, consent, or deliberate blindness. The safe rules do not apply if prohibited imports are in unlisted or mismarked packages, or are hidden on the vehicle but not in the cargo. “Owner or operator” covers lessees, charterers, officers, station managers, partners, and similar responsible people. The person in charge (“master”) includes the purser or whoever keeps the cargo records. If a common carrier is seized under the hidden-or-unlisted rule and the carrier is later freed, the vehicle must pay the costs of seizure and detention.

Title 19, §1594

Customs Duties — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Whenever—

(1)any vessel, vehicle, or aircraft; or

(2)the owner or operator, or the master, pilot, conductor, driver, or other person in charge of a vessel, vehicle, or aircraft;

(b)(1)No conveyance used by any person as a common carrier in the transaction of business as a common carrier is subject to seizure and forfeiture under the customs laws for violations relating to merchandise contained—

(A)on the person;

(B)in baggage belonging to and accompanying a passenger being lawfully transported on such conveyance; or

(C)in the cargo of the conveyance if the cargo is listed on the manifest and marks, numbers, weights and quantities of the outer packages or containers agree with the manifest;

(2)Except as provided in paragraph (1) or subsection (c), no vessel, vehicle, or aircraft is subject to forfeiture to the extent of an interest of an owner for a drug-related offense established by that owner to have been committed or omitted without the knowledge, consent, or willful blindness of the owner.

(c)If any merchandise the importation of which is prohibited is found to be, or to have been—

(1)on board a conveyance used as a common carrier in the transaction of business as a common carrier in one or more packages or containers—

(A)that are not manifested (or not shown on bills of lading or airway bills); or

(B)whose marks, numbers, weight or quantities disagree with the manifest (or with the bills of lading or airway bills); or

(2)concealed in or on such a conveyance, but not in the cargo;

(d)For purposes of this section—

(1)The term “owner or operator” includes—

(A)a lessee or person operating a conveyance under a rental agreement or charter party; and

(B)the officers and directors of a corporation;

(C)station managers and similar supervisory ground personnel employed by airlines;

(D)one or more partners of a partnership;

(E)representatives of the owner or operator in charge of the passenger or cargo operations at a particular location; and

(F)and other persons with similar responsibilities.

(2)The term “master” and similar terms relating to the person in charge of a conveyance includes the purser or other person on the conveyance who is responsible for maintaining records relating to the cargo transported in the conveyance.

(e)When a common carrier has been seized in accordance with the provisions of subsection (c) and it is subsequently determined that a violation of such subsection occurred but that the vessel will be released, the conveyance is liable for the costs and expenses of the seizure and detention.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

Provisions substantially similar to subsec. (a) of this section, so far as it relates to vessels, except that they referred to the “revenue laws,” instead of the “customs laws,” were contained in R.S. § 3088. Provisions substantially similar to subsec. (b), so far as it relates to vessels, were contained in act Feb. 8, 1881, ch. 34, 21 Stat. 322. Provisions similar to subsec. (b), except that they applied to railway cars, engines, other vehicles, and teams, and referred to the owner, superintendent, or agent of the owner in charge, instead of the “conductor, driver,” etc., were contained in R.S. § 3063. All of these sections were superseded and more closely assimilated to this section by act Sept. 21, 1922, ch. 356, title IV, § 594, 42 Stat. 982, and repealed by section 642 and 643 thereof. section 594 of the 1922 act was superseded by section 594 of act June 17, 1930, comprising this section, and repealed by section 651(a)(1) of the 1930 act.

Amendments

1988—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 100–690 designated existing provisions as par. (1), redesignated former pars. (1), (2), and (3) as subpars. (A), (B), and (C), respectively, and added par. (2). 1986—Pub. L. 99–570 amended section generally. Prior to amendment, section catchline read “Libel of vessels and vehicles” and text read as follows: “Whenever a vessel or vehicle, or the owner or master, conductor, driver, or other person in charge thereof, has become subject to a penalty for violation of the customs-revenue laws of the United States, such vessel or vehicle shall be held for the payment of such penalty and may be seized and proceeded against summarily by libel to recover the same: Provided, That no vessel or vehicle used by any person as a common carrier in the transaction of business as such common carrier shall be so held or subject to seizure or forfeiture under the customs laws, unless it shall appear that the owner or master of such vessel or the conductor, driver, or other person in charge of such vehicle was at the time of the alleged illegal act a consenting party or privy thereto.”

§1594 Seizure of Conveyances