CHAPTER XXXIV

COMMERCIAL SAMPLES

Entry Under Bond

SEC. 1. There is no provision in the tariff for the free entry of commercial samples as such. If imported solely for use in taking orders for merchandise, they may be admitted without the payment of duty under bond for their exportation within six months from the date of importation, and under such regulations and subject to such conditions as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe under Paragraph J, Subsection 4, Section IV of the Act of October 3, 1913, which provides:

"That machinery or other articles to be altered or repaired, molders' patterns for use in the manufacture of castings intended to be and actually exported within six months from the date of importation thereof, models of women's wearing apparel imported by manufacturers for use as models in their own establishments, and not for sale, samples solely for use in taking orders for merchandise, articles intended solely for experimentai purposes, and automobiles, motorcycles, bicycles, aeroplanes, airships, balloons, motorboats, racing shells, teams, and saddle horses, and similar vehicles and craft brought temporarily into the United States by non-residents for touring purposes or for the purpose of taking part in races or other specific contests, may be admitted without the payment of duty under bond for their exportation within six months from the date of importation and under such regulations and subject to such conditions as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe: Provided, That no article shall be entitled to entry under this section that is intended for sale or which is imported for sale on approval."

Samples of No Commercial Value

SEC. 2. Samples of no commercial value are free absolutely. Not because they are samples, but be

cause they are articles of no commercial value in the condition in which imported. The term "commercial value" in this connection has reference to the open foreign market value of the samples as a commodity of commerce. (T. D. 36896.) )

Such samples may be imported through the mails (Chapter XXI, Section 2). They may also be imported in packed express packages (Chapter XXXIV, Section 4).

Samples of Commercial Value

SEC. 3. Samples having a commercial value in the country of exportation are dutiable under the appropriate provisions of the tariff. (T. D. 36896.)

They may be imported by parcel post. (Chapter XXI, Section 5.)

They may also be imported in packed express packages. (Chapter XXXIV, Section 4.) If imported by parcel post and duly entered, the right of appeal to reappraisement, and review on protest, under Paragraphs M and N of Section III of the Tariff Act of October 3, 1913, accrues. (T. D. 37077.)

If imported in packed (express) packages and entered on informal appraisement entry without the production of a certified consular invoice or statement of cost, no right of appeal to reappraisement accrues. (T. D. 37077.)

Packed Packages

SEC. 4. The term packed packages as used in this section has reference to an outer packing case or covering containing a number of smaller separate packages destined for delivery to various dif

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ferent ultimate consignees. For example, express packages from abroad are usually imported in this way.

If no invoice, or statement of contents or values has been received, it is provided by the Act of May 1, 1876 (Chapter 89, Section 1), that:

"A separate entry may be made of one or more packages contained in an importation of packed packages consigned to one importer or consignee and concerning which packages no invoice, or statement of contents or values has been received.

"Every such entry shall contain a declaration of the whole number of parcels contained in such original packed package and shall embrace all the goods, wares, and merchandise imported in one vessel at one time for one and the same actual owner or ultimate consignee."

In regard to the importer's declaration to be filed on the entry of packages contained in an original packed package, it is provided by the Act of May 1, 1876 (Chapter 89, Section 2) that:

"The importer, consignee, or agent's oath prescribed by section twenty-eight hundred and forty-one of the Revised Statutes is hereby modified for the purposes of this Act so as to require the importer, consignee, or agent to declare therein that the entry contains an account of all the goods imported in the whereof is master from for account of which oath so modified shall in each case be taken on the entry of one or more packages contained in an original package. But nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to relieve the importer, consignee, or agent from producing the oath of the owner or ultimate consignee in every case now required by law, or to provide that an importation may consist of less than the whole number of parcels contained in any packed package or packed packages consigned in one vessel at one time to one importer, consignee, or agent."

Commercial samples, being articles not merchandise intended for sale, may be accorded the privilege of special delivery and appraisement, if of limited value and weight, under the Act of June 8, 1896 (Chapter 371, Section 1), which provides that:

"Articles not merchandise intended for sale, not exceeding five hundred dollars in value, imported in packages not exceeding one hundredd pounds in weight, in vessels of the United States, may be specially delivered to and appraised at the public stores and the entry thereof liquidated by the collector under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe, and after such appraisement and liquidation may be delivered, upon payment of the liquidated duties under the bond provided for in this act, to express companies or other duly incorporated inland carriers bonded for the transportation of appraised or unappraised merchandise between the several ports in the United States: Provided, That not more than one such consignment to one ultimate consignee from the same consignor shall be imported in any one vessel: And provided, That the original appraisement of and liquidation of duties on such importations shall be final against the owner, importer, agent, or consignee except in the case of manifest clerical errors, as provided for in section twenty-four of the Act of June tenth, eighteen hundred and ninety: Provided, That nothing contained in this act shall apply to explosives or any article the importation of which is prohibited by law.”

CHAPTER XXXV

RECIPROCAL TRADE AGREEMENTS

Authority to Enter Into

SEC. 1. With a view to the establishment of reciprocal trade agreements with foreign countries, it is provided by Paragraph A of Section IV of the Act of October 3, 1913:

"That for the purpose of readjusting the present duties on importations into the United States and at the same time to encourage the export trade of this country, the President of the United States is authorized and empowered to negotiate trade agreements with foreign nations, wherein mutual concessions are made looking toward freer trade relations and further reciprocal expansion of trade and commerce: Provided, however, That said trade agreements before becoming operative shall be submitted to the Congress of the United States for ratification or rejection."

Paragraph B of Section IV of the Act of October 3, 1913, provides:

"That nothing in this Act contained shall be so construed as to abrogate or in any manner impair or affect the provisions of the treaty of commercial reciprocity concluded between the United States and the Republic of Cuba on the eleventh day of December, nineteen hundred and two, or the provisions of the Act of Congress heretofore passed for the execution of the same except as to the proviso of article eight of said treaty, which proviso is hereby abrogated and repealed."

Cuban Reciprocity

SEC. 2. Article VIII of the Cuban Reciprocity Convention of December 11, 1902, referred to, the proviso of which is abrogated by the foregoing, provides: