Statement (2008)

Supporting Statement

Notice of Detention

1651-0073

A. Justification

1. Pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 1499, as amended by the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, Public Law 103-182, Title VI of which is popularly known as the Customs Modernization Act (Mod Act), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is empowered to detain merchandise when a violation of the laws relating to the admissibility of that merchandise is suspected. The instructions regarding the Notice of Detention are set forth in CBP Directive 3550-043, “Implementation of a National Detention Policy”. A Notice of Detention must be issued by CBP to any known claimant and any recipient of this notice may respond by providing more information to CBP in order to facilitate the determination as to admissibility or may ask for an extension of time to bring the merchandise into compliance. Notice of Detention is provided for in 19 CFR 12.123.

2. The information provided will assist CBP in making a determination whether to seize, deny entry of or release detained goods into the commerce. Extensions of time may be sought which will allow the collection of evidence in order to facilitate the decision-making process.

3. The Notice of Detention is usually completed at remote field locations. It is handwritten and requires the signature of the officer making the detention. Therefore, it is not conducive to electronic submission.

4. Since each notice is unique, this information is not duplicated elsewhere.

5. No additional consideration has been given to small businesses or entities.

6. Failure to collect this information would cause the seizure or denial of entry to merchandise which otherwise would have been found to be admissible.

7. This information collection is conducted in a manner consistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5(c)(2).

8. Public comments were solicited through two Federal Register notices published on March 4, 2008 (Volume 73, Page 11657) and on May 6, 2008 (Volume 73, Page 25025). As of this submission no comments have been received.

9. There is no offer of a monetary or material value for this information collection.

10. This information collection may involve questions of a commercially sensitive nature.

11. There are no questions of a personal or sensitive nature on this declaration.

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12. Estimated Annualized Burden on the Public - The estimated burden for this information collection is 2700 hours. This is based on one response per claimant taking approximately 2 hours to complete, with 1350 detentions occurring annually.

Estimated Annualized Cost to the Public – The cost to the public for responding to Notices of Detention is estimated at $67,500. This is based upon an 2700 burden hours at the average hourly cost of $25.00 per hour.

13. Estimated Recordkeeping Burden on the Public- There are no record keeping or capitalization requirements associated with this information request, and no estimated capitalization cost at this time.

14. Estimated Cost to the Federal Government - The estimated annual cost to the Federal Government in handling, processing and analyzing information collected with regard to the Notice of Detention is $141,750.00. This is based on 4,050 hours expended at an average hourly rate of $35.00.

15. There are no changes to this information collection.

16. This information collection will not be published for statistical purposes.

17. This collection does not involve a form so there is no printed expiration date.

18. There are no exceptions to the certification statements identified in Item 19 on the 83-i.

B. No statistical methods were employed.