Treatment of Inbound Mail

[IceWizard]

I found this and copied it from the U$P$ website ....

710 U.S. Customs Information

711 Customs Examination of Mail Believed to Contain Dutiable or Prohibited Articles

711.1 What Is Subject to Examination
All mail originating outside the customs territory of the United States (i.e., outside the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico) is subject to customs examination, except the following:

1. Mail addressed to ambassadors and ministers (chiefs of diplomatic missions) of foreign countries.
   
   
2. Letter mail known to contain or believed to contain only correspondence or documents addressed to diplomatic missions or to the officers of diplomatic missions; to international organizations designated by the president as public international organizations pursuant to the International Organizations Immunities Act; and other mail addressed to such international organizations pursuant to instructions issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
   
   
3. Mail known to contain or believed to contain only official documents addressed to officials of the U.S. government.
   
   
4. Refer to ASM 274.94 for examination procedures to be followed for mail addressed for delivery in the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and Puerto Rico.
   

711.2 Treatment of Mail Believed to Contain Dutiable or Prohibited Articles

711.21 Treatment at Exchange Offices

711.211 Submission to Customs Officers
Mail believed to contain articles liable to customs duty or prohibited articles is submitted immediately to a customs location as identified in 711.62, except when exchange offices are authorized to redispatch such mail to designated distribution offices for customs treatment.

711.212 Tag 10
Exchange offices that redispatch mail for submission to customs offices will attach Tag 10, Supposed Liable to Customs Duty (previously Label 81), to the label holders or hasps of sacks or pouches. Tag 10 is a reusable pink slotted tag, bearing the words This sack contains mail supposed liable to customs duty.

711.22 Treatment at Distribution Offices

711.221 Submission to Customs Officers
Distribution offices will submit mail believed to contain articles liable to customs duty or prohibited articles to customs officers as soon as possible after receipt.

711.222 Return of Tag 10
Quantities of reusable Tags 10 that have been removed from sacks containing such mail should be returned periodically. These tags should be sent to the postmaster at either New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, Seattle, or Miami, as appropriate from a geographic standpoint.

711.23 Priority Treatment of Airmail
Airmail items receive preferential customs treatment and are submitted to customs separately from surface mail. Upon return from customs, airmail items will be dispatched by air, if that can expedite delivery.

711.3 Examination of Registered Mail and Sealed Letters
The postmaster or other designated employee must be present when Registered Mail and sealed letters (except unregistered sealed letter mail bearing a green customs label) are opened by customs officers for examination. After customs treatment, the customs officer will repack and reseal the mail.

711.4 Extraction of Samples for Advisory Information
Should a customs officer wish to obtain advisory information from a local trade expert or from the Customs Information Exchange, permit him or her to extract a sample of the contents. The customs officer will furnish the Postal Service official with two copies of Customs Form 6423, Notice of Damage, Shortage, or Samples Retained and Notice to Call for Samples\u2009— one for enclosure in the package and the other for the Post Office files. If the sample is to be forwarded to New York, dispatch it under official registration to the following address:

POSTMASTER
JAMES A FARLEY BLDG
US POSTAL SERVICE
421 8TH AVE
NEW YORK NY 10199–0998
for delivery to the following address:
US CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION
ONE PENN PLZ 11TH FL
NEW YORK NY 10119–0002

711.5 Treatment of Mail Following Customs Examination

711.51 Repacking After Customs Examination

711.511 Responsibility of Customs and Postal Service Employees
Customs employees are responsible for repacking and resealing mail of foreign origin after customs examination. Postal Service employees accepting mail that has been in customs custody for examination must determine from external inspection whether the mail can safely bear further handling and transportation. Customs employees are responsible for restoring mail that is not in satisfactory condition.

711.512 Customs Shipments in Bad Order
Shipments found to be in bad order in transit or at the delivery office must be reconditioned by Postal Service employees. After reconditioning such mail, the employee should note, over his or her signature on the address side of the wrapper, the bad order and any evidence of damage or missing contents.

711.52 Identification of Dutiable/Nondutiable Articles
When U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) determines that an inbound shipment is subject to duty payment by the addressee, the mailpiece is returned to the Postal Service bearing an orange adhesive-backed Treasury Department envelope, which contains CBP Form 3419ALT, Mail Entry. When U.S. Customs determines that an inbound shipment is not subject to duty payment by the addressee, the mailpiece is returned to the Postal Service with no Customs endorsement.

711.6 Handling Subsequent to Customs Inspection

711.61 Postal Service Handling Procedures
All foreign originating mailpieces that do not bear CBP Form 3419ALT are presumed to have been “cleared through customs” without duty being assessed. Accordingly, such articles should be processed for onward dispatch, without additional delay.


Note: U.S. Customs officers are no longer placing a diamond–shaped “passed free” stamp on inbound mailpieces that are found to be nondutiable.

711.62 U.S. Customs Service Locations
U.S. Customs officers at the locations noted in Exhibit 711.62 are authorized to perform the following tasks:

1. Inspect foreign-originating mailpieces that arrive through each designated port of entry.
   
   
2. Evaluate protests by addressees who are dissatisfied with the assessed value, rate, or amount of duty charged (see 713.23):
   

Exhibit 711.62 
U.S. Customs Service Locations
 

California
LAX (Los Angeles, CA)
US CUSTOMS SERVICE
20700 DENKER AVE
TORRANCE CA 90501-6414

SFO (San Francisco, CA)
US CUSTOMS SERVICE
660 WESTFIELD RD
SAN FRANCISCO CA 94128-3101

Florida
MIA (Miami, FL)
US CUSTOMS SERVICE
11698 NW 25TH ST
MIAMI FL 33112-3215

Hawaii
HNL (Honolulu, HI)
US CUSTOMS SERVICE
3599 NORTH NIMITZ HWY
HONOLULU HI 96818-4415

Illinois
ORD (Chicago, IL)
US CUSTOMS SERVICE
11600 IRVING PARK RD
CHICAGO IL 60666-9901

New Jersey
EWR (Newark, NJ)
Foreign Center NJ 099 Surface Facility
US CUSTOMS SERVICE
80 COUNTY ROAD
JERSEY CITY NJ 07097-9998

New York
JFK (New York, NY)
US CUSTOMS SERVICE
JFK AIRPORT
BUILDING 250
JAMAICA NY 11430-9998

Puerto Rico
SJU (San Juan, PR)
US CUSTOMS SERVICE
585 AVE FD ROOSEVELT
SAN JUAN PR 00936-9325

U.S. Virgin Islands
STT (Saint Thomas, VI)
US CUSTOMS SERVICE
RON DE LUGO FEDERAL BUILDING AND COURTHOUSE
5500 VETERANS DR RM 248
ST THOMAS VI 00802-6424

[masterthief]

711.62 U.S. Customs Service Locations
U.S. Customs officers at the locations noted in Exhibit 711.62 are authorized to perform the following tasks:

1. Inspect foreign-originating mailpieces that arrive through each designated port of entry.


I'm no lawyer, but that sentence seems pretty open-ended as for what can be done to the mail as "Inspect" is concerned.

[kkaschke]

So if tracking shows Processed Through Facility,
ISC NEW YORK NY and now the magazine is in Massachusetts does that mean it has cleared customs?

[Caver]

So if tracking shows Processed Through Facility,
ISC NEW YORK NY and now the magazine is in Massachusetts does that mean it has cleared customs?

I would say yes . But be mindful of a controlled delivery if it is a large shipment .

[cmdline]

All mail originating outside the customs territory of the United States

yeah agreed the above sentence if not local mail seems open ended, thou that said i think if its large enough and causes suspicion they would be easily able to apply it to anything.

only flaw i see its battle of numbers, if you have 50% work that is controlled by computers, and handfull people sorting they would their hands full after hours work to do weeks worth of paper work.

once crap happens its usually just by random luck inspection carried out. there are more factors like country of origin and usually they employ k9 to explore cargo once it lands, also worth mentioning if say x item is found in transit country they will pass it trough but will notify origin country for setup - its usually for c^ke and other stuff that goes into bricks so not a small time stuff. think every country employes same or similar rules to handling mail, thou in many countries they have more freedom to rank sack through items, thank good more countries becoming a bit less extreme with it but still plenty out there in modern ones, also things like fent epidemic dont do any favors,since its x100 more potent then M*(phine thus small amounts being sent round the globe and they would be considered distribution level at how potent they are thus scum who use it make no favors to anyone.

[OldBoy]

And they wonder why the DN is flourishing.  Sorry, not endorsing the DN, but really, comparing risks, it's going to become the safest option in times to come.

[Salty]

So if it's found to be contraband will the send it to see if you accept or just keep it?

[swissmiss]

I had a small subscription that was shipped this past fall and came through an east coast port. After it was 3 weeks late I was preparing for a LL. Out of the blue, it showed up in the mail and showed no signs of being opened. I'm thinking that the process became backlogged and the office just tossed the mail back into the system for delivery. It wasn't like I had to sign for anything. It was a tiny little magazine. Maybe all the tiny readers aren't worth the paperwork? Just a best guess.

[folken]

Good info here.
My experience is to go unregistered if possible.
Registered means closer examination IMHO...................Folken

[Froggy]

And it’s generally cheaper! It does mean you end up stalking your mailman a bit more though.