Notes on 19 U.S.C. § 1 : US Code - Notes

Search Notes on 19 U.S.C. § 1 : US Code - Notes

(Aug. 24, 1912, ch. 355, 37 Stat. 434.)
CODIFICATION
Section was superseded in part by section 2071 et seq. of this
title.
PRIOR PROVISIONS
This was a provision of the sundry civil appropriation act for
the fiscal year 1913. Prior to its incorporation into the Code, it
read as follows: "The President is authorized to reorganize the
customs service and cause estimates to be submitted therefor on
account of the fiscal year nineteen hundred and fourteen bringing
the total cost of said service for said fiscal year within a sum
not exceeding $10,150,000 instead of $10,500,000, the amount
authorized to be expended therefor on account of the current fiscal
year nineteen hundred and twelve; in making such reorganization and
reduction in expenses he is authorized to abolish or consolidate
collection districts, ports, and subports of entry and delivery, to
discontinue needless offices and employments, to reduce excessive
rates of compensation below amounts fixed by law or Executive
order, and to do all such other and further things that in his
judgment may be necessary to make such organization effective and
within the limit of cost herein fixed; such reorganization shall be
communicated to Congress at its next regular session and shall
constitute for the fiscal year nineteen hundred and fourteen and
until otherwise provided by Congress the permanent organization of
the customs service." Such of the foregoing provisions as were not
carried into the Code were omitted as temporary and executed.
The plan of reorganization, with an estimate of the expenses of
the same, was communicated by the President to Congress by Message
dated March 3, 1913, as follows:
"Message from the President of the United States, Transmitting
Plan of Reorganization of the Customs Service and Detailed Estimate
of Expenses of the Same.
"To the Senate and House of Representatives:
"Whereas, by virtue of the provision of chapter 355 of the acts
of 1912, approved August 24, 1912, being 'An act making
appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the
fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and thirteen,
and for other purposes,' I was authorized to reorganize the customs
service and cause estimates to be submitted therefor on account of
the fiscal year 1914, reducing the total cost of said service for
said fiscal year by an amount not less than $350,000, and I was
further authorized in making such reorganization and reduction in
expenses to abolish or consolidate collection districts, ports and
subports of entry and delivery, to discontinue needless offices and
employments, to reduce excessive rates of compensation below
amounts fixed by law or Executive order, and to do all such other
and further things that in my judgment may be necessary to make
such reorganization effective and within the said limit of cost;
and
"Whereas, it was further provided that such reorganization should
be communicated to Congress at its next regular session and should
constitute for the fiscal year 1914, and until otherwise provided
by Congress, the permanent organization of the customs service:
Now, therefore,
"It is hereby ordered and communicated that the following plan
shall be the organization of the customs service for the said
fiscal year 1914, and unless otherwise provided by Congress the
permanent organization of the customs service:
"I. CUSTOMS DISTRICTS
"In lieu of all customs-collection districts, ports, and subports
of entry and ports of delivery now or heretofore existing there
shall be 49 customs-collection districts with district headquarters
and port of entry as follows:" [The customs-collection districts,
ports, and subports of entry and ports of delivery enumerated in
the President's message to Congress have been changed since the
date of the message and the districts and their boundaries and
ports of entry are subject to further changes under section 2 of
this title.]
"II. The use of the terms 'port of delivery' and 'subport of
entry' is hereby discontinued, and all ports of entry, subports of
entry, and ports of delivery not above specifically mentioned as
ports of entry, are hereby abolished.
"III. The privileges of the first and seventh sections of the act
of June 10, 1880, commonly known as the 'immediate transportation
act' shall remain as heretofore existing with respect to the ports
of entry above mentioned.
"IV. There shall be one collector of customs for each of the
customs collection districts above established, who shall receive
the compensation hereafter set forth, which shall constitute all
the compensation and emoluments to be received by him and which
shall be in lieu of all fees, commissions, salaries, or other
emoluments of any name or nature (including the right to charge for
blank manifests and clearances under the provisions of section 2648
of the Revised Statutes) heretofore received by or allowed to him.
"All moneys collected or received by such collectors of customs
in their official capacities, whether as fees, storage,
commissions, or from the sale of blank forms or otherwise, shall be
covered into the Treasury.
"V. Such collectors shall maintain their principal offices at the
headquarters of their respective districts, with the exception of
the collectors for the districts of Virginia, Minnesota, and Duluth
and Superior, who shall maintain a principal office at both Newport
News and Norfolk, and at both St. Paul and Minneapolis, and at both
Duluth and Superior, respectively.
"VI. The collector of customs or the surveyor of customs (if
there be no collector) for any district heretofore existing in
which the port above mentioned as the headquarters of a district
hereby created is located shall continue to hold office as the
collector of customs for such new district under his existing
commission, or if the port so designated as the headquarters of any
district hereby created by an independent port of delivery the
collector or surveyor (if there be no collector) shall continue to
hold office as the collector of customs for such new district under
his existing commission, and the terms of office of all other
collectors of customs, and the terms of office of all other
surveyors of customs, except the surveyors of customs at the ports
of Portland, Me., Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y., Philadelphia, Pa.,
Baltimore, Md., New Orleans, La., and San Francisco, Cal., shall
cease and determine upon this reorganization going into effect.
"VII. The Secretary of the Treasury may appoint a deputy
collector to have charge of each port of entry, who shall perform
such duties and receive such compensation as the Secretary of the
Treasury shall determine.
"VIII. The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to
prescribe uniform blank forms to be used in connection with the
entry and clearance of merchandise, and to cause such forms to be
printed and to be kept on sale at the various ports of entry as he
may direct, the net proceeds of such sales to be covered into the
Treasury.
"IX. Merchandise shall not be entered or delivered from customs
custody elsewhere than at one of the ports of entry hereinbefore
designated, except at the expense of the parties in interest, upon
express authority from the Secretary of the Treasury and under
conditions to be prescribed by him. When it shall be made to appear
to the Secretary of the Treasury that the interests of commerce or
the protection of the revenue so require, he may cause to be
stationed at places in the various collection districts, though not
named as ports of entry, officers or employees of the customs with
authority to enter and clear vessels, to accept entries of
merchandise, to collect duties, and to enforce the various
provisions of the customs and navigation laws.
"X. All persons now in the classified civil service whose
employment may be discontinued by reason of this reorganization
shall be retained upon the list of eligibles for appointment to
fill any vacancies hereafter occurring in the customs service.
"XI. The notice of dissatisfaction and protest provided for by
subsections 13 and 14 of section 28 of the act approved August 5,
1909, shall be deemed to be finally abandoned and waived unless
within 30 days from the date of filing thereof the person who filed
such notice or protest shall deposit with the collector of customs
a fee of $1 with respect to each appraisement, entry, or payment
objected to. Such fee shall be deposited and accounted for as
'Miscellaneous receipts,' and in case the notice of dissatisfaction
or protest in connection with which such fee was deposited shall be
finally sustained in whole or in part, such fee shall be refunded
to the importer, with the duties found to be collected in excess,
from the appropriation for the refund to importers of excess of
deposits.
"Attached hereto is a detailed estimate of the expenses of the
customs service under the reorganization above provided. [Omitted
as not permanent, and in any event superseded by section 6 of this
title.]
"Done at Washington, D.C., this 3d day of March, 1913.
"Wm. H. Taft."
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 sections 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.
REORGANIZATION PLAN NO. 1 OF 1965
EFF. MAY 25, 1965, 30 F.R. 7035, 79 STAT. 1317
Prepared by the President and transmitted to the Senate and the
House of Representatives in Congress assembled, March 25, 1965,
pursuant to the provisions of the Reorganization Act of 1949, 63
Stat. 203, as amended [see 5 U.S.C. 901 et seq.].
BUREAU OF CUSTOMS
SECTION 1. ABOLITION OF OFFICES
All offices in the Bureau of Customs of the Department of the
Treasury of collector of customs, comptroller of customs, surveyor
of customs, and appraiser of merchandise to which appointments are
required to be made by the President, by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate, are abolished. The foregoing provisions
shall become effective with respect to each office abolished
thereby at such time, not later than December 31, 1966, as the
Secretary of the Treasury shall specify, but nothing herein shall
empower the Secretary to increase the term of any office beyond
that provided by law for such office or affect his authority under
the first paragraph under the heading "TREASURY DEPARTMENT"
appearing in the Act of March 2, 1895 (ch. 187, 28 Stat. 844; 5
U.S.C. 252) [31 U.S.C. 309], to retain in office, prior to December
31, 1966, those persons whose offices are to be terminated under
this reorganization plan.
SEC. 2. TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS
There are transferred to the Secretary of the Treasury the
functions, if any, that have been vested by statute in officers,
agencies, or employees of the Bureau of Customs of the Department
of the Treasury since the effective date of Reorganization Plan No.
26 of 1950 (64 Stat. 1280).
SEC. 3. PRESERVATION OF REMEDIES
The abolition of offices herein shall not prejudice any right to
protest or to appeal to the United States Customs Court any action
taken in the administration of the customs laws.
SEC. 4. INCIDENTAL PROVISIONS
Consonant with section 4 of the Reorganization Act of 1949, as
amended [see 5 U.S.C. 904] and this reorganization plan, the
Secretary of the Treasury shall make such provisions as he shall
deem necessary respecting (1) the transfer or other disposition of
the records, property, personnel, and unexpended balances of
appropriations, allocations, and other funds, available or to be
made available, which are affected by a reorganization contained in
this reorganization plan; and (2) the winding up of the affairs of
any officer whose office is abolished by the provisions of this
reorganization plan.
MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT
To the Congress of the United States:
All that we do to serve the people of this land must be done, as
has been my insistent pledge, with the least cost and the most
effectiveness.
In my state of the Union message, I announced it was this
administration's intention to "reshape and reorganize" the
executive branch. This goal had one objective: "to meet more
effectively the tasks of today."
I report today now one step taken forward toward that goal as
part of our progress "on new economies we were planning to make."
I submit today a plan for reorganization in the Bureau of Customs
of the Department of the Treasury.
At present the Bureau maintains 113 independent field offices,
each reporting directly to Customs headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Under a modernization program of which this reorganization plan is
an integral part, the Secretary of the Treasury proposes to
establish six regional offices to supervise all Customs field
activities. The tightened management controls achieved from these
improvements will make possible a net annual saving of $9 million
within a few years.
An essential feature will be the abolition of the offices of all
Presidential appointees in the Customs Service. The program cannot
be effectively carried out without this step.
The following offices, therefore, would be eliminated: Collectors
of customs, comptrollers of customs, surveyors of customs, and
appraisers of merchandise, to which appointments are now required
to be made by the President by and with the advice and consent of
the Senate.
Incumbents of abolished offices will be given consideration for
suitable employment under the civil service laws in any positions
in customs for which they may be qualified.
When this reorganization is completed, all officials and
employees of the Bureau of Customs will be appointed under the
civil service laws.
All of the functions of the offices which will be abolished are
presently vested in the Secretary of the Treasury by Reorganization
Plan No. 26 of 1950 which gives the Secretary power to redelegate
these functions. He will exercise this power as the existing
offices are abolished.
The estimate of savings that will be achieved by the program of
customs modernization and improvement, of which this reorganization
plan is a part, is based on present enforcement levels, business
volume, and salary scales. Of the amounts saved, approximately $1
million a year will be from salaries no longer paid because of the
abolition of offices.
The proposed new organizational framework looks to the
establishment of new offices at both headquarters and field levels
and abolition of present offices.
This results in a net reduction of more than 50 separate
principal field offices by concentration of supervisory
responsibilities in fewer officials in charge of regional and
district activities. In addition to the six offices of regional
commissioner, about 25 offices of district director will be
established. The regional commissioners and district directors will
assume the overall principal supervisory responsibilities and
functions of collectors of customs, appraisers of merchandise,
comptrollers of customs, laboratories, and supervising customs
agents.
At the headquarters level, four new offices will be established
to replace seven divisions. A new position of special assistant to
the Commissioner will be created and charged with responsibility
for insuring that all Customs employees conduct themselves in
strict compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. Up to
now this function has been one of a number lodged with an existing
division.
After investigation I have found and hereby declare that each
reorganization included in Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1965 is
necessary to accomplish one or more of the purposes set forth in
section 2(a) of the Reorganization Act of 1949, as amended.
It should be emphasized that abolition by Reorganization Plan No.
1 of 1965 of the offices of collector of customs, comptroller of
customs, surveyor of customs, and appraiser of merchandise will in
no way prejudice any right of any person affected by the laws
administered by the Bureau of Customs. The rights of importers and
others, for example, before the Customs Court, arising out of the
administration of such functions will remain unaffected. In
addition it should be emphasized that all essential services to the
importing, exporting, and traveling public will continue to be
performed.
This reorganization plan will permit a needed modernization of
the organization and procedure of the Bureau of Customs. It will
permit a more effective administration of the customs laws.
I urge the Congress to permit Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1965
to become effective.
Lyndon B. Johnson.
The White House, March 25, 1965.