Title 19, Customs DutiesRelease 119-102
§468 Stamps and Brands Effaced on Emptying Packages of Imported Liquors
Title 19 › CHAPTER 3 — THE TARIFF AND RELATED PROVISIONS › SUBTITLE IV — CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATION › part 4 — transportation in bond and warehousing of merchandise › § 468
Summary
When a person empties a package of imported liquor that has a required tax stamp, they must destroy the stamp and any official marks or brands on the container at that time. If the stamp or marks are not destroyed when the package is emptied, the container can be seized and forfeited to the government. The same rules and penalties that cover empty containers and removed stamps apply here.
Full Legal Text
Title 19, §468
Customs Duties, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Every person who empties or draws off, or causes to be emptied or drawn off, the contents of any package of imported liquors stamped as above required, shall, at the time of such emptying, efface, obliterate, and destroy the stamp thereon, and also all other marks or brands which shall have been placed thereon in accordance with the law or regulations concerning imported liquors; every cask or other package from which the stamp for imported liquors required by section 467 of this title to be placed thereon shall not be effaced, obliterated, or destroyed, on emptying such package, shall be forfeited, and the same may be seized by any officer of internal revenue wherever found; and all the provisions and penalties of R.S. § 3324, relating to empty casks or packages from which the marks, brands, or stamps have not been effaced or obliterated, and relating to the removal of stamps from packages, and to having in possession any stamps so removed, shall apply to the stamps for imported spirits herein provided for, and to the casks or other packages on which such stamps shall have been used.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
R.S. § 3324, referred to in text, related to stamps and brands to be effaced from empty casks and penalty for omitting to efface and for transporting in violation of law. See section 5206(d), 5604, and 7301 of Title 26, Internal Revenue Code.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
19 U.S.C. § 468
Title 19, Customs Duties
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102