Proclamation 2599—Merchandise In General—Order and Bonded Warehouses

By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

Whereas section 491 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (46 Stat. 726; 52 Stat. 1083; 19 U.S.C. 1491) provides in part as follows:

"Any entered or unentered merchandise (except merchandise entered under section 557 of this Act, but including merchandise entered for transportation in bond or for exportation) which shall remain in customs custody for one year from the date of importation thereof, without all estimated duties and storage or other charges thereon having been paid, shall be considered unclaimed and abandoned to the Government and shall be appraised by the appraiser al merchandise and sold by the collector at public auction under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe * * *";

Whereas section 557 of the said act, as amended (46 Stat. 744; 52 Stat. 1087 and 1088; 19 U.S.C. 1557), provides in part as follows:

"(a) Any merchandise subject to duty, with the exception of perishable articles and explosives substances other than firecrackers, may be entered for warehousing and be deposited in a bonded warehouse at the expense and risk of the owner, importer, or consignee. Such merchandise may be withdrawn, at any time within three years from the date of importation, for consumption upon payment of the duties and charges accruing thereon at the rate of duty imposed by law upon such merchandise at the date of withdrawal; or may be withdrawn for exportation or for transportation and exportation to a foreign country, * * * without the payment of duties thereon, or for transportation and rewarehousing at another port or elsewhere, or for transfer to another bonded warehouse at the same port: Provided, That the total period of time for which such merchandise may remain in bonded warehouse shall not exceed three years from the date of importation * * *";

Whereas section 559 of the said act, as amended (46 Stat. 744; 52 Stat. 1088; 19 U.S.C. 1559), provides in part as follows:

"Merchandise upon which any duties or charges are unpaid, remaining in bonded warehouse beyond three years from the date of importation, shall be regarded as abandoned to the Government and shall be sold under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe; * * *";

Whereas section 318 of the said act (46 Stat. 696; 19 U.S.C. 1318) provides in part as follows:

"Whenever the President shall by proclamation declare an emergency to exist by reason of a state of war, or otherwise, he may authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to extend during the continuance of such emergency the time herein prescribed for the performance of any act * * *";

And Whereas, by my Proclamation No. 2487 (55 Stat. 1647) I did, on May 27, 1941, declare an unlimited national emergency to exist;

Now, Therefore, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, acting under and by virtue of the authority vested in me by the foregoing provision of section 318 of the Tariff Act of 1930, do hereby authorize the Secretary of the Treasury, until the termination of the emergency proclaimed on May 27, 1941 or until it shall be determined by the President and declared by his proclamation that such action is no longer necessary, whichever is earlier;

(1) To extend the one-year period prescribed in section 491, supra, as amended, for not more than one year from and after the expiration of such one-year period in any case in which said period has already expired or shall hereafter expire during the continuance of said emergency and in which the Foreign Economic Administration certifies to the Commissioner of Customs that such extension will not impede the war effort; and

(2) To extend the three-year period prescribed in sections 557 and 559, supra, as amended, for not more than one year from and after the expiration of such three-year period in any case in which said period has already expired or shall hereafter expire during the continuance of said emergency and in which the Foreign Economic Administration certifies to the Commissioner of Customs that such extension will not impede the war effort; and

(3) To extend further the one-year period prescribed in section 491, supra, as amended, and the three-year period prescribed in sections 557 and 559, supra, as amended, for additional periods of not more than one year each from and after the expiration of the immediately preceding extension in any case in which said extension shall expire during the continuance of said emergency and in which the Foreign Economic Administration certifies to the Commissioner of Customs that such additional extension will not impede the war effort;

Provided, however, That in each and every case under numbered paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), above, in which the merchandise is charged against an entry bond, the Secretary of the Treasury shall require that the principal on such bond, in order to obtain the benefit of any extension which may be granted under the authority of this proclamation, shall furnish to the collector of customs at the port where the bond is on file either the agreement of the sureties on the bond to remain bound under the terms and conditions of the bond to the same extent as if no extension had been granted, or an additional bond with acceptable sureties to cover the period of extension; and that, in each and every case in which the merchandise remains charged against a carrier's bond the Secretary of the Treasury shall require that the principal on such bond shall agree to the extension and shall furnish to the collector of customs at the port where the charge was made the agreement of the sureties on the bond to remain bound under the terms and conditions of the bond to the same extent as if no extension had been granted; and

Provided further, That the extensions of one year authorized in this proclamation shall not apply in any case in which the period sought to be extended expired prior to December 7, 1942 or in which the merchandise in question has been sold by the Government as abandoned.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United -States of America to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington this 4th day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and forty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and sixty-eighth.

FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT

By the President:
E.R. STETTINIVS JR.,
Acting Secretary of State.