US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

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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: 19USC1516]

 
                        TITLE 19--CUSTOMS DUTIES
 
                      CHAPTER 4--TARIFF ACT OF 1930
 
                 SUBTITLE III--ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS
 
       Part III--Ascertainment, Collection, and Recovery of Duties
 
Sec. 1516. Petitions by domestic interested parties


(a) Request for classification and rate of duty; petition

    (1) The Secretary shall, upon written request by an interested party 
furnish the classification and the rate of duty imposed upon designated 
imported merchandise of a class or kind manufactured, produced, or sold 
at wholesale by such interested party. If the interested party believes 
that the appraised value, the classification, or rate of duty is not 
correct, it may file a petition with the Secretary setting forth--
        (A) a description of the merchandise,
        (B) the appraised value, the classification, or the rate of duty 
    that it believes proper, and
        (C) the reasons for its belief.

    (2) As used in this section, the term ``interested party'' means a 
person who is--
        (A) a manufacturer, producer, or wholesaler in the United 
    States;
        (B) a certified union or recognized union or group of workers 
    which is representative of an industry engaged in the manufacture, 
    production, or wholesale in the United States; or
        (C) a trade or business association a majority of whose members 
    are manufacturers, producers, or wholesalers in the United States,

of goods of the same class or kind as the designated imported 
merchandise. Such term includes an association, a majority of whose 
members is composed of persons described in subparagraph (A), (B), or 
(C).
    (3) Any producer of a raw agricultural product who is considered 
under section 1677(4)(E) of this title to be part of the industry 
producing a processed agricultural product of the same class or kind as 
the designated imported merchandise shall, for purposes of this section, 
be treated as an interested party producing such processed agricultural 
product.

(b) Determination on petition

    If, after receipt and consideration of a petition filed by such an 
interested party, the Secretary determines that the appraised value, the 
classification, or rate of duty is not correct, he shall determine the 
proper appraised value, classification, or rate of duty and shall notify 
the petitioner of his determination. All such merchandise entered for 
consumption or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption more than thirty 
days after the date such notice to the petitioner is published in the 
weekly Customs Bulletin shall be appraised, classified, or assessed as 
to the rate of duty in accordance with the Secretary's determination.

(c) Contest by petitioner of appraised value, classification, or rate of 
        duty

    If the Secretary determines that the appraised value, 
classification, or rate of duty with respect to which a petition was 
filed pursuant to subsection (a) of this section is correct, he shall 
notify the petitioner. If dissatisfied with the determination of the 
Secretary, the petitioner may file with the Secretary, not later than 
thirty days after the date of the notification, notice that it desires 
to contest the appraised value, classification, or rate of duty. Upon 
receipt of notice from the petitioner, the Secretary shall cause 
publication to be made of his determination as to the proper appraised 
value, classification, or rate of duty and of the petitioner's desire to 
contest, and shall thereafter furnish the petitioner with such 
information as to the entries and consignees of such merchandise, 
entered after the publication of the determination of the Secretary, at 
such ports of entry designated by the petitioner in his notice of desire 
to contest, as will enable the petitioner to contest the appraised 
value, classification, or rate of duty imposed upon such merchandise in 
the liquidation of one such entry at such port. The Secretary shall 
direct the appropriate customs officer at such ports to immediately 
notify the petitioner by mail when the first of such entries is 
liquidated.

(d) Appraisal, classification, and liquidation of entries of merchandise 
        covered by published decisions of Secretary

    Notwithstanding the filing of an action pursuant to chapter 169 of 
title 28, merchandise of the character covered by the published decision 
of the Secretary (when entered for consumption or withdrawn from 
warehouse for consumption on or before the date of publication of a 
decision of the United States Court of International Trade or of the 
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, not in harmony 
with the published decision of the Secretary) shall be appraised or 
classified, or both, and the entries liquidated, in accordance with the 
decision of the Secretary and, except as otherwise provided in this 
chapter, the final liquidations of these entries shall be conclusive 
upon all parties.

(e) Consignee or his agent as party in interest before the Court of 
        International Trade

    The consignee or his agent shall have the right to appear and to be 
heard as a party in interest before the United States Court of 
International Trade.

(f) Appraisement, classification, and assessment of duty of merchandise 
        covered by published decision of Secretary in accordance with 
        final judicial decision of Court of International Trade or Court 
        of Appeals for the Federal Circuit sustaining cause of action in 
        whole or in part; suspension of liquidation of entries; 
        publication

    If the cause of action is sustained in whole or in part by a 
decision of the United States Court of International Trade or of the 
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, merchandise of 
the character covered by the published decision of the Secretary, which 
is entered for consumption or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption 
after the date of publication in the Federal Register by the Secretary 
or the administering authority of a notice of the court decision, shall 
be subject to appraisement, classification, and assessment of duty in 
accordance with the final judicial decision in the action, and the 
liquidation of entries covering the merchandise so entered or withdrawn 
shall be suspended until final disposition is made of the action, 
whereupon the entries shall be liquidated, or if necessary, reliquidated 
in accordance with the final decision. Such notice of the court decision 
shall be published within ten days from the date of the issuance of the 
court decision.

(g) Regulations implementing required procedures

    Regulations shall be prescribed by the Secretary to implement the 
procedures required under this section.

(June 17, 1930, ch. 497, title IV, Sec. 516, 46 Stat. 735; June 25, 
1938, ch. 679, Sec. 17(a), 52 Stat. 1084; June 25, 1948, ch. 646, 
Sec. 39, 62 Stat. 992; Pub. L. 91-271, title II, Sec. 209, June 2, 1970, 
84 Stat. 286; Pub. L. 93-618, title III, Secs. 321(f)(1), 331(b), Jan. 
3, 1975, 88 Stat. 2048, 2052; Pub. L. 96-39, title X, Sec. 1001(b)(1), 
July 26, 1979, 93 Stat. 303; Pub. L. 96-417, title VI, Secs. 601(6), 
607, Oct. 10, 1980, 94 Stat. 1744, 1745; Pub. L. 97-164, title I, 
Sec. 163(a)(1), Apr. 2, 1982, 96 Stat. 49; Pub. L. 99-514, title XVIII, 
Sec. 1888(5), Oct. 22, 1986, 100 Stat. 2925; Pub. L. 100-418, title I, 
Sec. 1326(d)(3), Aug. 23, 1988, 102 Stat. 1204.)


                            Prior Provisions

    Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in act 
Sept. 21, 1922, ch. 356, title IV, Sec. 516, 42 Stat. 970. That section 
was superseded by section 516 of act June 17, 1930, comprising this 
section, and repealed by section 651(a)(1) of the 1930 act.
    Application of subsection (b) of this section to complaints. Section 
17(b) of act June 25, 1938, provided that: ``(b) The provisions of 
subsection (b) of section 516 of the Tariff Act of 1930 [this section], 
as amended by this Act, shall apply only in the case of complaints filed 
after the effective date of this Act [see section 1653a of this title]. 
The provisions of subsection (b) of section 516 of the Tariff Act of 
1930, as in force prior to the effective date of this Act, shall 
continue in force with respect to any proceedings commenced by the 
filing of a complaint thereunder, except that upon the expiration of 
thirty days after the effective date of this Act, or upon the expiration 
of thirty days after the date of a decision of the Secretary adverse to 
the complainant, whichever is the later, any such proceedings in which a 
protest has not been duly filed shall be deemed to have been terminated 
unless the complainant shall have filed with the Secretary after the 
effective date of this Act a notice that he desires to protest the 
classification of, or rate of duty assessed upon, the merchandise.''


                               Amendments

    1988--Subsec. (a)(3). Pub. L. 100-418 added par. (3).
    1986--Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 99-514 inserted ``Such term includes 
an association, a majority of whose members is composed of persons 
described in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C).''
    1982--Subsecs. (d), (f). Pub. L. 97-164 substituted ``Court of 
Appeals for the Federal Circuit'' for ``Court of Customs and Patent 
Appeals''.
    1980--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 96-417, Sec. 607(a), designated existing 
provisions as par. (1), redesignated as subpars. (A), (B), and (C), 
former pars. (1), (2), and (3), struck out ``(as defined in section 
1677(9)(C), (D), and (E) of this title)'' after ``interested party'', 
covered in par. (2), and added par. (2).
    Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 96-417, Secs. 601(6), 607(b), redesignated the 
United States Customs Court as the United States Court of International 
Trade and substituted reference to chapter 169 for section 2632 of title 
28.
    Subsecs. (e), (f). Pub. L. 96-417, Sec. 601(6), redesignated the 
United States Customs Court as the United States Court of International 
Trade.
    1979--Pub. L. 96-39 completely revised the section to provide an 
expedited process for judicial review of an appealable determination, 
expanded the size of the group of parties having standing to obtain 
review of an appealable determination, and, in the process, revised 
subsecs. (a), (b), and (c), redesignated former subsecs. (e), (f), (g), 
and (h) as (d), (e), (f), and (g), and struck out former subsec. (d) 
relating to the contest of the Secretary's determination that foreign 
merchandise was not being sold in the United States at less than fair 
value or that bounty or grant was not being paid.
    1975--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 93-618, Sec. 331(b), inserted provisions 
relating to additional duty described in section 1303 of this title (to 
be known as ``countervailing duties'') and to special duty described in 
section 161 of this title (to be known as ``antidumping duties'').
    Subsecs. (b), (c). Pub. L. 93-618, Sec. 331(b), inserted provisions 
relating to countervailing duties and antidumping duties.
    Subsecs. (d) to (h). Pub. L. 93-618, Sec. 321(f)(1), added subsec. 
(d) and redesignated subsecs. (d) to (g) as (e) to (h), respectively.
    1970--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 91-271 substituted provisions requiring 
the Secretary to furnish to the American manufacturer, producer, or 
wholesaler the classification, and the rate of duty, if any, imposed 
upon designated imported merchandise, and provisions authorizing the 
American manufacturer, etc., to file a protest with the Secretary if the 
appraised value is too low, the classification is not correct, or the 
proper rate of duty is not being assessed, for provisions setting forth 
the procedure for the determination of a protest by an American 
manufacturer, producer, or wholesaler that the appraised value of any 
imported merchandise of a class or kind manufactured, produced, or sold 
at wholesale by him is too low.
    Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 91-271 substituted provisions authorizing the 
Secretary to determine the proper appraised value, classification, or 
rate of duty of the imported merchandise, and to notify the American 
manufacturer, producer, or wholesaler of his determination, for 
provision setting forth the procedure for the determination of a protest 
by an American manufacturer, producer, or wholesaler that the 
classification of, and the rate of duty, if any, is not proper.
    Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 91-271 substituted provisions setting forth the 
procedure for the petitioner to contest the decisions of the Secretary 
with respect to a petition filed pursuant to subsec. (a) of this 
section, for provisions requiring the collector to mail to the consignee 
or his agent a copy of every appeal and every protest filed by an 
American manufacturer, producer, or wholesaler, and authorizing such 
consignee or his agent to appear and be heard as a party in interest 
before the Customs Court.
    Subsecs. (d) to (g). Pub. L. 91-271 added subsecs. (d) to (g).
    1948--Subsec. (b). Act June 25, 1948, repealed last sentence 
relating to procedure of proceeding over all other cases on Customs 
Court docket. See sections 2602 and 2638 of Title 28, Judiciary and 
Judicial Procedure.
    Subsec. (c). Act June 25, 1948, repealed last sentence relating to 
finality of Customs Court's decision. See section 2637 of Title 28.
    Subsec. (d). Act June 25, 1948, repealed subsec. (d) relating to 
inspection of documents. See section 2634 of Title 28.
    1938--Subsec. (b). Act June 25, 1938, amended subsec. (b) generally.


                    Effective Date of 1988 Amendment

    Amendment by Pub. L. 100-418 applicable with respect to 
investigations initiated after Aug. 23, 1988, and to reviews initiated 
under section 1673e(c) or 1675 of this title after Aug. 23, 1988, see 
section 1337(b) of Pub. L. 100-418, set out as a note under section 1671 
of this title.


                    Effective Date of 1982 Amendment

    Amendment by Pub. L. 97-164 effective Oct. 1, 1982, see section 402 
of Pub. L. 97-164, set out as a note under section 171 of Title 28, 
Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.


                    Effective Date of 1980 Amendment

    Amendment by Pub. L. 96-417 effective Nov. 1, 1980, and applicable 
with respect to civil actions pending on or commenced on or after such 
date, see section 701(a) of Pub. L. 96-417, set out as a note under 
section 251 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.


                    Effective Date of 1979 Amendment

    Amendment by Pub. L. 96-39 effective Jan. 1, 1980, see sections 1002 
and 107 of Pub. L. 96-39, set out as Effective Date notes under sections 
1516a and 1671 of this title, respectively.


                    Effective Date of 1975 Amendment

    Section 321(g)(3) of Pub. L. 93-618 provided that: ``The amendment 
made by subsection (f) [amending this section and sections 2631 and 2632 
of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure] shall apply with respect 
to determinations under section 201 of the Antidumping Act, 1921 
[section 160 of this title], resulting from questions of dumping raised 
or presented on or after the date of the enactment of this Act [Jan. 3, 
1975].''
    Amendment by section 331(b) of Pub. L. 93-618 effective Jan. 3, 
1975, see section 331(d)(1) of Pub. L. 93-618, set out as a note under 
section 1315 of this title.


                    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 1948 Amendment

    Section 38 of act June 25, 1948, provided that the amendment made by 
that act is effective Sept. 1, 1948.


                    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

    Functions of Secretary of the Treasury under this section insofar as 
they relate to any protest, petition, or notice of desire to contest 
described in section 1002(b)(1) of the Trade Agreements Act of 1979, set 
out as a note under section 1516a of this title, transferred to 
Secretary of Commerce pursuant to Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1979, 
Sec. 5(a)(1)(D), 44 F.R. 69275, 93 Stat. 1381, eff. Jan. 2, 1980, as 
provided by section 1-107(a) of Ex. Ord. No. 11288, Jan. 2, 1980, 45 
F.R. 993, set out as notes under section 2171 of this title.


           Plan Amendments Not Required Until January 1, 1989

    For provisions directing that if any amendments made by subtitle A 
or subtitle C of title XI [Secs. 1101-1147 and 1171-1177] or title XVIII 
[Secs. 1801-1899A] of Pub. L. 99-514 require an amendment to any plan, 
such plan amendment shall not be required to be made before the first 
plan year beginning on or after Jan. 1, 1989, see section 1140 of Pub. 
L. 99-514, as amended, set out as a note under section 401 of Title 26, 
Internal Revenue Code.


               Application of Subsection (b) to Complaints

    Section 17(b), (c) of act of June 25, 1938, as amended by act June 
16, 1951, ch. 141, Sec. 9(b), 65 Stat. 75, provided that:
    ``(b) The provisions of subsection (b) of section 516 of the Tariff 
Act of 1930 [this section], as amended by this act, shall apply only in 
the case of complaints filed after the effective date of this act [see 
Effective Date of 1938 Amendment note set out under section 1401 of this 
title]. The provisions of subsection (b) of section 516 of the Tariff 
Act of 1930, as in force prior to the effective date of this act, shall 
continue in force with respect to any proceedings commenced by the 
filing of a complaint thereunder, except that upon the expiration of 
thirty days after the effective date of this act, or upon the expiration 
of thirty days after the date of a decision of the Secretary adverse to 
the complainant, whichever is the later, any such proceedings in which a 
protest has not been duly filed shall be deemed to have been terminated 
unless the complainant shall have filed with the Secretary after the 
effective date of this act a notice that he desires to protest the 
classification of, or rate of duty assessed upon, the merchandise.
    ``(c) [Repealed. June 16, 1951, ch. 141, Sec. 9(b), 65 Stat. 75.]''

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in sections 1304, 1514, 3011 of this 
title; title 28 sections 1581, 2631, 2632, 2635, 2636, 2637, 2639, 2640.