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[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 19USC1496a]

 
                        TITLE 19--CUSTOMS DUTIES
 
                      CHAPTER 4--TARIFF ACT OF 1930
 
                 SUBTITLE III--ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS
 
       Part III--Ascertainment, Collection, and Recovery of Duties
 
Sec. 1496a. Clearance restrictions of individuals returning from 
        abroad; special circumstances; ``baggage and effects'' defined
        
    Except as otherwise provided by law, no individual returning to the 
United States from abroad shall be--
        (1) entitled to the admission of his or her baggage and effects 
    free of duty without entry; or
        (2) entitled to expedited customs examination and clearance of 
    his or her baggage and effects.

Paragraph (2) shall not apply to individuals in special circumstances 
(including being seriously ill or infirm, having been summoned by news 
of affliction or disaster, and accompanying the body of a deceased 
relative). For purposes of this section, the term ``baggage and 
effects'' means any article which was in the possession of the 
individual while abroad and is being imported in connection with his or 
her arrival and is intended for his or her bona fide personal or 
household use. Such term does not include any article imported as an 
accommodation to others or for sale or other commercial use.

(Pub. L. 95-410, title II, Sec. 215, Oct. 3, 1978, 92 Stat. 904.)

                          Codification

    Section was enacted as part of Customs Procedural Reform and 
Simplification Act of 1978, and not as part of Tariff Act of 1930 which 
comprises this chapter.


     Clearance Procedures Study; Report to Congressional Committees

    Section 216 of Pub. L. 95-410 provided that the Comptroller General, 
in cooperation with the Customs Service of the Department of the 
Treasury and the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the 
Department of Justice, study clearance procedures for individuals 
entering or reentering the United States, and to report the results of 
his study and any recommendations for expediting the clearance process 
to specific committees of the United States Senate and the House of 
Representatives not later than Sept. 1, 1979.