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ART. 347. Custom-house collectors are empowered to permit the reimportation, duty free, of sacks that have been exported containing native products, provided that in the exportation and reimportation of said sacks the requirements laid down in articles 346 and 351 of these ordinances have been complied with.

Subject to the same conditions the reimportation, duty free, of refrigerators that have been used for the exportation of fruit and of such apparatus, receptacles, and vehicles as the department of finance may include in this franchise will be allowed; provided that said refrigerators, apparatus, receptacles, and vehicles are used for the carriage of products for exportation and that when they first entered the country they paid the duties collectable thereon.

ART. 348. The period of one year allowed by article 344 for reimportation duty free may be extended for another year by the department of finance, but only in exceptional circumstances.

ART. 350. If upon examination by experts it is found that the goods are of foreign origin they will pay the tariff duties and as much over again.

ART. 351. The entry of national or nationalized goods, returning from abroad, must take place through the same custom-house as that through which they passed when exported, but when the department of finance sees fit it may authorize their introduction through some other custom-house. The goods must in any event be accompanied by a consular invoice extended with respect to them exclusively and setting forth the date of their departure from the country and the date of their arrival at the foreign point for which they are destined. ART. 352. After foreign merchandise has been imported into the Republic, and provided that it does not remain in the zone of vigilance along the northern frontier and is not being carried for clearance at the custom-house of importation at the capital, it may move freely in the interior of the country without being subject to the presentation of the custom-house documents, to inspection, or to fiscal formalities.

ART. 360. Custom-house collectors located at points connected by rail with the capital of the Republic may permit the introduction for clearance at the import custom-house of Mexico of the baggage of passengers, the dresses and properties of amusement companies, and effects destined for the Federal Government, provided that they are consigned to one of the Government's offices.

The clearance of goods arriving for foreign ministers or diplomatic agents residing in the country will be effected in accordance with the regulations of September 11, 1901, and the clearance of goods consigned for the bonded warehouses will take place in accordance with the provisions of Chapter XV of these ordinances.

In other cases, only with the express permission of the Department of Finance, can leave be granted for the introduction of foreign merchandise for inspection and clearance in the interior of the Republic.

ART. 361. When permission has been obtained for the introduction of merchandise and the clearance thereof at the capital of the Republic, the following requirements will be complied with:

I. The consignee will present to the custom-house of entry a duplicate petition with the consular invoice and the lists of the packages containing the goods, in order that they may be forwarded to the custom-house of importation of Mexico City. If the packages come from abroad under a through bill of lading to the capital, the petition with the invoice and lists mentioned may be presented either to the custom-house of entry by the carrier company having charge of them or in Mexico City by the owner of the goods to the custom-house bureau, in order that the latter may order the goods to be forwarded and may send the documents to the custom-house where they are needed.

II. When the aforesaid petition, with invoice and lists, shall have been received, the custom-house collector will hand them into the accounting department in order that it may compare the invoice with the manifest, and if they are found to agree may at the foot of the invoice state in a note that the number of packages declared is correct or may make such observations as are in order in the event of discrepancies being found.

III. When the comparison of said documents shall have been effected, the accounting department will turn over the petition with the lists to the commandant of the custom-house guards, so that, subject to the vigilance of guards to be appointed by him, the packages may be put into the cars or box cars destined to carry them, and which will be sealed and locked with special padlocks of which all custom-houses must have a supply.

IV. When the number of said packages to be carried by a car or box car does not suffice to fill it entirely, a compartment may be formed in the interior of the car, separated therefrom by a partition or railing affording the necessary safeguards, said compartment also being sealed. If no such compartment can be formed, the packages will be bound round and sealed.

ART. 362. When the packages have been shipped, with the safeguards mentioned in the foregoing article, in the train that is to carry them to the capital, the custom-house will deliver in a sealed envelope to the fiscal employee who has them in charge, or to the conductor of the train if there is no fiscal employee in charge, the document of shipment, in which the custom-house will set forth the necessary observations or explanations, together with the consular

invoice presented by the consignee and the list of packages duly legalized, all of which documents said employee or conductor is obliged to take with him for delivery to the custom-house of the capital.

ART. 363. Every carrier company which takes charge of the transportation of goods to the import custom-house of Mexico City must be under bond to the general treasury of the federation or must execute a boud in the custom-house when taking charge of the carriage of the goods for an amount sufficient to guarantee the payment of duties on the goods and such penalties as may have been incurred. The liability of the carrier companies will cease as soon as the customhouse of Mexico City receives the goods and finds them as stated.

When a carrier company does not care to guarantee the payment of duties and penalties with respect to a shipment of merchandise, the shipper or consignee may give a bond either to the custom-house of entry or to the import custom-house of Mexico City, and if anything proves to be wrong the bond will be enforced for the amount of the duties and the indemnity or penalties that may be in order.

The custom-house collectors are empowered to veto the shipment of goods, subject to fiscal custody, in cars or box cars which in their opinion are not in good condition and do not afford the safeguards necessary for their carriage, and the railway companies will take care not to assign for this service cars or box cars that do not possess the necessary conditions.

Packages of goods which, owing to their form or character, are not susceptible of being sealed, will be put up in a casing suitable for being bound round and sealed.

In the case of goods which, owing to their nature, can not conveniently be carried in closed cars and which are not susceptible of being sealed, the custom-house of entry will take note of the number and weight of the packages, the tariff classification of the goods, and other particulars serving for their identification in the custom-house of importation in Mexico City; and in such cases the custom-house collectors may act according to their discretion and as may be determined by circumstances.

The custom-house collectors may also, when they see fit, detail to travel on trains or in box cars carrying goods subject to fiscal vigilance, custom-house employees commissioned to have charge of them to such point as may be necessary. In these cases, the companies will furnish those employees with a round-trip ticket and will advance to them, through the custom-house and on account of the owner of the goods, such sum of money as may be agreed upon beforehand with the custom-house collector as sufficient to meet the extraordinary expenses which such employees may have to incur during the performance of their mission.

ART. 364. When goods have to be transshipped en route the carrier. company must give notice to the custom-house from which said goods started, stating the place at which they are to be transshipped, so that, if no fiscal section exists there and the goods are not being transported under the custody of custom-house employees, said custom-house may send such employees as it thinks necessary to supervise the transshipment.

The supervising employees will first see whether the seals attached to the packages by the custom-house remain intact, and then will watch the transshipment, taking care to compare the marks and number of the packages with the papers, in proportion as the transshipment is effected, and also seeing to it that all the packages are placed inside the box cars in which they are to continue their journey, and they will seal said cars as soon as the transshipment is completed. If, when examining the packages, they find that any of them have been opened or tampered with, or that the seals are no longer intact, they will tie up such packages and seal them anew, giving immediate notification to the custom-house, and they will also notify the customhouse of any other special fact which they may observe during the transshipment.

Only in cases of force majeure, which must be duly proven, can cars and box cars sealed by the custom-houses be opened en route. If they are opened under other conditions, and upon the arrival of the goods at the custom-house, a change therein to the detriment of fiscal interests is discovered, the carrier company will be liable and the penalties which it has incurred will be applied to it.

Transshipment will not be permitted by custom-house collectors unless they receive satisfactory proof of the necessity or expedience of moving the goods to cars other than those in which said goods were shipped at the starting point. When goods are transshipped without the regular permission, save by reason of a duly proven case of force majeure, the carrier company will, for each offense, be fined to an amount not exceeding $500 over and above the enforcement of their liability for the regular duties, and the penalties to which they may have rendered themselves liable in case packages are missing or their contents are found to have been curtailed or tampered with.

In cases where, owing to unforeseen causes, it proves necessary en route to transship goods that are being carried in sealed cars or box cars, and said goods are not being transported in the custody of fiscal employees, the conductor of the train will notify the chief of any Federal office in the locality, or one of the local authorities, to the end that they may permit and witness the transshipment. If there be no Federal office near by, and no local authority, the operation will be supervised merely by the station agent where it takes place. In any

case a precis will be drawn up setting forth what has occurred and the causes giving rise to the transshipment.

ART. 365. Carrier companies are under the obligation, when the goods carried by them are to be cleared at the capital, of delivering them at the custom-house of importation of Mexico City, within a period of time that will be computed on the basis of the distance traveled between the custom-house from which the goods started and the capital at the rate of 100 kilometers or fraction thereof for each day that has elapsed, without including in the computation either the day on which the company received the goods from said custom-house or the day on which it delivered them to the custom-house of the capital.

Carrier companies transporting goods for clearance in the import custom-house of Mexico City are also under the obligation of unloading them at the point designated by said custom-house, and subject to its immediate supervision; and if there is in connection with said custom-house, and with its approval, a gang of men employed to handle packages, all the operations connected with the unloading will be intrusted exclusively to said gang.

If, when the import custom-house receives the goods, it finds that the seals attached to the box cars by the custom-house from which the goods started have been tampered with, or that the padlocks have been forced, a minute external examination of the packages will be made, and if one or more is found missing, or it shall appear that there has been a substitution of packages, or that one or more of the packages have been opened, the company will be liable to the penalties that may be in order.

Packages that show signs of having been opened or tampered with must be sealed at once by the custom-house before being admitted to its warehouses.

Carrier companies will be directly responsible for the payment of duties on packages that may be missing or for which it shall be found that others have been substituted when the goods are unloaded at the import custom-house, and they will also pay, as indemnity to the exchequer for the loss that may accrue to it, the amount of the duties over again due on the goods that should have been contained in the packages. The computation for the liquidation of duties will be effected on the basis of the data supplied by the consular invoices, and if any doubt arises or there is any discrepancy in the data, the highest schedule appertaining to the class of goods declared will be taken as the basis.

The same procedure will be followed when the goods are missing from the inside of a package which presents marks of having been opened en route.

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