Supporting U.S.C.

Page 275

§ 1625

TITLE 19—CUSTOMS DUTIES

(e) Deposit of money or obligation of United
States in lieu of bond
The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to
permit the deposit of money or obligations of
the United States, in such amount and upon
such conditions as he may by regulation prescribe, in lieu of sureties on any bond required
or authorized by a law, regulation, or instruction which the Secretary of the Treasury or the
Customs Service is authorized to enforce.
(June 17, 1930, ch. 497, title IV, § 623, 46 Stat. 759;
June 25, 1938, ch. 679, § 30, 52 Stat. 1089; Pub. L.
91–271, title III, § 301(ii), June 2, 1970, 84 Stat. 291;
Pub. L. 100—418, title I, § 1904, Aug. 23, 1988, 102
Stat. 1313; Pub. L. 103–182, title VI, § 647, Dec. 8,
1993, 107 Stat. 2207.)
AMENDMENTS
1993—Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 103–182, § 647(1), inserted
‘‘and the manner in which the bond may be filed with
or, pursuant to an authorized electronic data interchange system, transmitted to the Customs Service’’
after ‘‘form of such bond’’.
Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 103–182, § 647(2), inserted at end
‘‘Any bond transmitted to the Customs Service pursuant to an authorized electronic data interchange system shall have the same force and effect and be binding
upon the parties thereto as if such bond were manually
executed, signed, and filed.’’
1988—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 100–418 provided for publication of guidelines establishing customs bond cancellation standards.
1970—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 91–271 substituted reference
to customs officers for reference to collectors of customs.
1938—Act June 25, 1938, amended section generally,
among other changes adding subsecs. (c) to (e).
EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1970 AMENDMENT
For effective date of amendment by Pub. L. 91–271,
see section 203 of Pub. L. 91–271, set out as a note under
section 1500 of this title.
EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1938 AMENDMENT
Amendment by act June 25, 1938, effective on thirtieth day following June 25, 1938, except as otherwise specifically provided, see section 37 of act June 25, 1938, set
out as a note under section 1401 of this title.
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.
Functions of all other officers of Department of the
Treasury and functions of all agencies and employees of
such Department transferred, with certain exceptions,
to Secretary of the Treasury, with power vested in him
to authorize their performance or performance of any
of his functions, by any of such officers, agencies, and
employees, by Reorg. Plan No. 26 of 1950, §§ 1, 2, eff. July
31, 1950, 15 F.R. 4935, 64 Stat. 1280, 1281, set out in the
Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees. Customs Service was under Department of the
Treasury.

§ 1624. General regulations
In addition to the specific powers conferred by
this chapter the Secretary of the Treasury is au-

thorized to make such rules and regulations as
may be necessary to carry out the provisions of
this chapter.
(June 17, 1930, ch. 497, title IV, § 624, 46 Stat. 759.)
PRIOR PROVISIONS
Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in act Sept. 21, 1922, ch. 356, title IV, § 623, 42
Stat. 988. That section was superseded by section 624 of
act June 17, 1930, comprising this section, and repealed
by section 651(a)(1) of the 1930 act.

§ 1625. Interpretive rulings and decisions; public
information
(a) Publication
Within 90 days after the date of issuance of
any interpretive ruling (including any ruling
letter, or internal advice memorandum) or protest review decision under this chapter with respect to any customs transaction, the Secretary
shall have such ruling or decision published in
the Customs Bulletin or shall otherwise make
such ruling or decision available for public inspection.
(b) Appeals
A person may appeal an adverse interpretive
ruling and any interpretation of any regulation
prescribed to implement such ruling to a higher
level of authority within the Customs Service
for de novo review. Upon a reasonable showing
of business necessity, any such appeal shall be
considered and decided no later than 60 days following the date on which the appeal is filed. The
Secretary shall issue regulations to implement
this subsection.
(c) Modification and revocation
A proposed interpretive ruling or decision
which would—
(1) modify (other than to correct a clerical
error) or revoke a prior interpretive ruling or
decision which has been in effect for at least 60
days; or
(2) have the effect of modifying the treatment previously accorded by the Customs
Service to substantially identical transactions;
shall be published in the Customs Bulletin. The
Secretary shall give interested parties an opportunity to submit, during not less than the 30-day
period after the date of such publication, comments on the correctness of the proposed ruling
or decision. After consideration of any comments received, the Secretary shall publish a
final ruling or decision in the Customs Bulletin
within 30 days after the closing of the comment
period. The final ruling or decision shall become
effective 60 days after the date of its publication.
(d) Publication of customs decisions that limit
court decisions
A decision that proposes to limit the application of a court decision shall be published in the
Customs Bulletin together with notice of opportunity for public comment thereon prior to a
final decision.
(e) Public information
The Secretary may make available in writing
or through electronic media, in an efficient,