                        TITLE 19--CUSTOMS DUTIES
 
                      CHAPTER 4--TARIFF ACT OF 1930
 
                 SUBTITLE III--ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS
 
                     Part V--Enforcement Provisions
 
Sec. 1629. Inspections and preclearance in foreign countries


(a) In general

    When authorized by treaty or executive agreement, the Secretary may 
station customs officers in foreign countries for the purpose of 
examining persons and merchandise prior to their arrival in the United 
States.

(b) Functions and duties

    Customs officers stationed in a foreign country under subsection (a) 
of this section may exercise such functions and perform such duties 
(including inspections, searches, seizures and arrests) as may be 
permitted by the treaty, agreement or law of the country in which they 
are stationed.

(c) Compliance

    The Secretary may by regulation require compliance with the customs 
laws of the United States in a foreign country and, in such a case the 
customs laws and other civil and criminal laws of the United States 
relating to the importation of merchandise, filing of false statements, 
and the unlawful removal of merchandise from customs custody shall apply 
in the same manner as if the foreign station is a port of entry within 
the customs territory of the United States.

(d) Seizures

    When authorized by treaty, agreement or foreign law, merchandise 
which is subject to seizure or forfeiture under United States law may be 
seized in a foreign country and transported under customs custody to the 
customs territory to the United States to be proceeded against under the 
customs law.

(e) Stationing of foreign customs officers in the United States

    The Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary, may 
enter into agreements with any foreign country authorizing the 
stationing in the United States of customs officials of that country (if 
similar privileges are extended by that country to United States 
officials) for the purpose of insuring that persons and merchandise 
going directly to that country from the United States comply with the 
customs and other laws of that country governing the importation of 
merchandise. Any foreign customs official stationed in the United States 
under this subsection may exercise such functions and perform such 
duties as United States officials may be authorized to perform in that 
foreign country under reciprocal agreement.

(f) Application of certain laws

    When customs officials of a foreign country are stationed in the 
United States in accordance with subsection (e) of this section, and if 
similar provisions are applied to United States officials stationed in 
that country--
        (1) sections 111 and 1114 of title 18 shall apply as if the 
    officials were designated in those sections; and
        (2) any person who in any matter before a foreign customs 
    official stationed in the United States knowingly and willfully 
    falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a 
    material fact, or makes any false, fictitious or fraudulent 
    statements or representations, or makes or uses any false writing or 
    document knowing the same to contain any false, fictitious or 
    fraudulent statement or entry, is liable for a fine of not more than 
    $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than 5 years, or both.

(June 17, 1930, ch. 497, title IV, Sec. 629, as added Pub. L. 99-570, 
title III, Sec. 3128, Oct. 27, 1986, 100 Stat. 3207-89.)

                       References in Text

    The customs laws of the United States and the customs law, referred 
to in subsecs. (c) and (d), are classified generally to this title.
