April 2018 Customs Broker License Exam, Q. 27

April 2018 Customs Broker License Exam, Question 27

Which of the following mail articles are not subject to examination or inspection by customs?

A. Bona fide gifts with an aggregate fair retail value not exceeding $800 in the country of shipment
B. Mail packages addressed to officials of the U.S Government containing merchandise
C. Diplomatic pouches bearing the official seal of France and certified as only containing documents
D. Personal and household effects of military and civilian personnel returning to the United States upon the completion of extended duty abroad
E. Plant material imported by mail for purposes of immediate exportation by mail

27 C 19 CFR 145.38 & 145.1, 145.2, 145.37(c) and 145.40

Applicable Regulations

19 CFR § 145.1 – Definitions.
(a) Mail article. “Mail article” means any posted parcel, packet, package, envelope, letter, aerogramme, box, card, or similar article or container, or any contents thereof, which is transmitted in mail subject to customs examination.
(b) Letter class mail. “Letter class mail” means any mail article, including packages, post cards, and aerogrammes, mailed at the letter rate or equivalent class or category of postage.
(c) Sealed letter class mail. “Sealed letter class mail” means letter class mail sealed against postal inspection by the sender.

19 CFR § 145.2 – Mail subject to Customs examination.
(a) Restrictions. Customs examination of mail as provided in paragraph (b) of this section is subject to the restrictions and safeguards relating to the opening of letter class mail set forth in § 145.3.
(b) Generally. All mail arriving from outside the Customs territory of the United States which is to be delivered within the Customs territory of the United States and all mail arriving from outside the U.S. Virgin Islands which is to be delivered within the U.S. Virgin Islands, is subject to Customs examination, except:
(1) Mail known or believed to contain only official documents addressed to officials of the U.S. Government;
(2) Mail addressed to Ambassadors and Ministers (Chiefs of Diplomatic Missions) of foreign countries; and
(3) Letter class mail known or believed to contain only correspondence or documents addressed to diplomatic missions, consular posts, or the officers thereof, or to international organizations designated by the President as public international organizations pursuant to the International Organizations Act (see § 148.87(b) of this chapter). Mail, other than letter class mail, addressed to the designated international organizations is subject to Customs examination except where the organization certifies under its official seal that the mail contains no dutiable or prohibited articles. Any Customs examination made shall, upon request of the addressee international organization, take place in the presence of an appropriate representative of that organization.

19 CFR § 145.38 – Diplomatic pouches.
Mail articles bearing the official seal of a foreign government with which the United States has diplomatic relations, accompanied by certificates bearing such seal to the effect that they contain only official communications or documents, shall be admitted free of duty without Customs examination.

19 CFR § 145.37 – Articles for the U.S. Government.
(a) Mail articles for copyright. Mail articles marked for copyright which are addressed to the Library of Congress, to the U.S. Copyright Office, or to the office of the Register of Copyrights, Washington, DC, shall be passed free of duty without issuing an entry.
(b) Books, engravings, and other articles. Books, classifiable under subheading 4903.00.00, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) (19 U.S.C. 1202), and engravings, etchings, and other articles enumerated in subheading 9808.00.10, HTSUS, shall be passed free of duty without issuing an entry when they are addressed to the Library of Congress or any department or agency of the U.S. Government.
(c) Official Government documents. Other mail articles addressed to offices or officials of the U.S. Government, believed to contain only official documents, shall be passed free of duty without issuing an entry. Such mail articles, when believed to contain merchandise, shall be treated in the same manner as other mail articles of merchandise so addressed.

19 CFR § 145.40 – Plant material imported for immediate exportation.
Plant material may be imported by mail free of duty for immediate exportation by mail subject to the following regulations, which have been approved by the Department of Agriculture and the Postal Service. This procedure shall not affect the movement of plant material in the internal mails through the United States:

(a) Permit for entry. Each shipment shall be dispatched in the mails from abroad, accompanied by a yellow and green special mail tag bearing the serial number of the permit for entry for immediate exportation or immediate transportation and exportation, issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and also by the postal form of Customs declaration.

(b) Place of inspection. Upon arrival, the shipment shall be detained by or redispatched to the postmaster at Washington, DC, Brownsville, Tex., Hoboken, NJ, Honolulu, Hawaii, Laredo, Tex., Miami, Fla., San Francisco, Calif., San Juan, P.R., San Pedro, Calif., or Seattle, Wash., as may be appropriate, according to the address on the green and yellow tag, and there submitted to the Customs officer and the Federal quarantine inspector. The merchandise shall be accorded special handling only at these cities, and under no circumstances shall it be permitted to enter the commerce of the United States.

(c) Special handling. After inspection by the Customs and quarantine officers, and with their approval, the addressee or his authorized agent shall repack and readdress the mail package under Customs supervision; endorse and sign on the package a waiver of the addressee’s right to withdraw the mail article from the mails; affix to the mail article the necessary postage; and comply with any other mailing and export requirements, after which the package shall be delivered under Customs supervision to the postmaster for exportation by mail in accordance with § 145.71.

(d) Entry not required. It will not be necessary to issue a Customs mail entry nor to require a formal entry of the shipment.

19 CFR § 145.34 – Personal and household effects and tools of trade.
(a) U.S. military and civilian personnel returning from extended duty abroad. Section 148.74 of this chapter sets forth specific requirements for exemptions from duty under subheading 9805.00.50, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (19 U.S.C. 1202), for personal and household effects of military and civilian personnel of the United States returning upon the completion of extended duty abroad. A copy of the official travel orders shall be attached to or enclosed in each mail article and the outside of each mail article shall be clearly marked to show that exemption from duty is being claimed.

19 CFR § 148.74 – Exemption on termination of assignment to extended duty or on evacuation.
(a) Exemption. With the limitation on alcoholic beverages and tobacco products provided in paragraph (c) of this section, entry free of duty and tax under subheading 9805.00.50, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (19 U.S.C. 1202), may be accorded personal and household effects of:

(1) Any person in the service of the United States who returns to the United States upon the termination of assignment to extended duty at a post or station outside the Customs territory of the United States;

(2) Members of his family who have resided with him at such post or station and are returning upon the termination of his assignment; or

(3) Any person evacuated to the United States under Government orders or instructions.

Analysis

The question asks which of the following mail articles are not subject to examination or inspection by Customs?

The question pertains to mail articles. Further, it is asking the examinee to identify from among the answer choices the mail article that is not subject to examination or inspection by Customs. The correct answer choice is a mail article that is not subject to either examination or inspection by Customs.

The first step is to determine what is a mail article for customs purposes. For this we need to refer the definition of mail articles provided in 19 CFR § 145.1(a) which states that a “Mail article” means any posted parcel, packet, package, envelope, letter, aerogramme, box, card, or similar article or container, or any contents thereof, which is transmitted in mail subject to customs examination.

This definition has two components. Firstly, a mail article is any posted parcel, packet, package, envelope, letter, aerogramme, box, card, or similar article or container, or any contents thereof. Secondly, the article has to be transmitted in mail subject to customs examination.

An article is transmitted in mail subject to customs examination when it is mailed from abroad. If the article is transmitted in mail domestically from within the country, it is not subject to customs examination and so would not meet the definition of mail article for customs purposes.

Therefore, while the question stem does not state whether the article is mailed from within the country or abroad, because it uses the term mail article from a customs point of view, it refers to articles mailed from abroad that are subject to customs examination. Due to the use of the term “mail article” in the question stem, it is implicit that the article in question is mailed from outside the country and is subject to customs examination with some exceptions that are specifically provided in the regulations.

Therefore, each of the answer choices have to be evaluated with the implicit assumption that it pertains to articles mailed from abroad that are subject to customs examination.

Answer choice A:

Section 321(a)(2)(C) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, authorizes CBP to provide an administrative exemption to admit free from duty and tax shipments of merchandise (other than bona fide gifts and certain personal and household goods) imported by one person on one day having an aggregate fair retail value in the country of shipment of not more than $800. This exemption is known as a de minimis entry. Creation of the new informal entry type 86 allows for customs brokers and self-filers to electronically submit entries with a limited data set that is exempt from duty, taxes and fees. However, these articles are subject to examination or inspection by customs. While Answer choice A does not specify the country of shipment, because the items are mail articles, the implicit assumption is that these are being shipped from outside the USA as mail articles are by definition subject to customs examination. Answer choice A is therefore incorrect.

Answer choice B:

There is no provision under Customs regulations for exemption from customs inspection or examination for mail packages addressed to officials of the U.S Government containing merchandise. The assumption that these could be mailed from within the country and hence not subject to customs examination is incorrect because the question stem supplies the information that these are mail articles which by definition is subject to customs examination. There is provision under 19 CFR § 145.2(1) to exempt from customs examination mail known or believed to contain only official documents addressed to officials of the U.S. Government.

19 CFR § 145.2(b)(1) provides all mail arriving from outside the Customs territory of the United States which is to be delivered within the Customs territory of the United States and all mail arriving from outside the U.S. Virgin Islands which is to be delivered within the U.S. Virgin Islands, is subject to Customs examination, except mail known or believed to contain only official documents addressed to officials of the U.S. Government.

Further, 19 CFR § 145.37(c) provides that other mail articles addressed to offices or officials of the U.S. Government, believed to contain only official documents, shall be passed free of duty without issuing an entry. Such mail articles, when believed to contain merchandise, shall be treated in the same manner as other mail articles of merchandise so addressed.

However, these mail packages, though addressed to officials of the U.S Government, contain merchandise, not official documents, and are therefore not covered under any exemption from customs examination.

Answer choice B is therefore incorrect.

Answer choice C:

As per 19 CFR § 145.38 mail articles bearing the official seal of a foreign government with which the United States has diplomatic relations, accompanied by certificates bearing such seal to the effect that they contain only official communications or documents, shall be admitted free of duty without Customs examination.

This exception has three elements. (i) The article must be from a foreign government with whom the US has diplomatic relations. (ii) The article must bear the official seal of the foreign government. (iii) It must contain only official communications or documents.

Answer choice C is Diplomatic pouches bearing the official seal of France and certified as only containing documents. This answer choice meets all the three elements of the exception. France is a foreign government with which the US has diplomatic relations. The diplomatic pouches bear the official seal of France and are certified as only containing documents.

Since this mail article meets all the required elements of the exception under 19 CFR § 145.38 it qualifies for exemption from customs examination. Therefore, Answer choice C is the correct answer.

Answer choice D:

19 CFR § 145.34 provides for exemptions from duty under subheading 9805.00.50, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (19 U.S.C. 1202), for personal and household effects of military and civilian personnel of the United States returning upon the completion of extended duty abroad. However, it does not provide any exemption from customs examination. Therefore, Answer choice D is incorrect.

Answer choice E:

19 CFR § 145.40 provides that plant material may be imported by mail free of duty for immediate exportation by mail subject to regulations, which have been approved by the Department of Agriculture and the Postal Service. These regulations provide for inspection and special handling by Customs and quarantine officers. After inspection by the Customs and quarantine officers, and with their approval, the addressee or his authorized agent shall repack and readdress the mail package under Customs supervision. As it does not provide any exemption from customs examination, Answer choice E is incorrect.

Conclusion

Answer Choice C is the only correct answer.