CUSTOMS USER FEES.

SEC. 9501. CUSTOMS USER FEES. (a) Amendments to Customs User Fees Program.— Section 13031 of the Consolidated Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (19 U.S.C. 58c) is amended as follows: (1) Merchandise processing fee imposed on foreign content of certain schedule 8 articles.— (A) Subsection (a)(9)(A) is amended to read as follows: “(A) provided for under any item in schedule 8 of the Tariff Schedules of the United States except item 806.30 or 807.00,”. (B) Subsection (b)(8)(A) is amended— (i) by striking out “and” at the end of clause (i); (ii) by striking out the period at the end of clause (ii) and inserting a semicolon; and (iii) by adding at the end thereof the following: “(iii) in the case of merchandise classified under item 806.30 of the Tariff Schedules of the United States, be applied to the value of the foreign repairs or alterations to the merchandise; and “(iv) in the case of merchandise classified under item 807.00 of such Schedules, be applied to the full value of the merchandise, less the cost or value of the component United States products. With respect to merchandise that is classified under item 806.30 or 807.00 of such Schedules and is duty-free, the Secretary may collect the fee charged on the processing of the merchandise under subsection (a) (9) or (10) on the basis of aggregate data derived from financial and manufacturing reports used by the importer in the normal course of business, rather than on the basis of entry-by-entry accounting.”. (2) Provision of customs services.— Subsection (e) is amended— (A) by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (6); (B) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following new paragraphs: “(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all customs services (including, but not limited to, normal and overtime clearance and preclearance services) shall be adequately provided, when requested, for— 101 STAT. 1330–378 “(A) the clearance of any commercial vessel, vehicle, or air- craft or its passengers, crew, stores, material, or cargo arriving, departing, or transiting the United States; “(B) the preclearance at any customs facility outside the United States of any commercial vessel, vehicle or aircraft or its passengers, crew, stores, material, or cargo; and “(C) the inspection or release of commercial cargo or other commercial shipments being entered into, or withdrawn from, the customs territory of the United States. “(5) For purposes of this subsection, customs services shall be treated as being ‘adequately provided’ if such of those services that are necessary to meet the needs of parties subject to customs inspection are provided in a timely manner taking into account factors such as— “(A) the unavoidability of weather, mechanical, and other delays; “(B) the necessity for prompt and efficient passenger and baggage clearance; “(C) the perishability of cargo; “(D) the desirability or unavoidability of late night and early morning arrivals from various time zones; “(E) the availability (in accordance with regulations prescribed under subsection (g)(2)) of customs personnel and resources; and “(F) the need for specific enforcement checks.”; and (C) by amending paragraph (6) (as redesignated by subparagraph (A)) to read as follows: “(6) Notwithstanding any other provision of law except paragraph (2), during any period when fees are authorized under subsection (a), no charges, other than such fees, may be collected— “(A) for any— “(i) cargo inspection, clearance, or other customs activity, expense, or service performed (regardless whether performed outside of normal business hours on an overtime basis), or “(ii) customs personnel provided, in connection with the arrival or departure of any commercial vessel, vehicle, or aircraft, or its passengers, crew, stores, material, or cargo, in the United States; “(B) for any preclearance or other customs activity, expense, or service performed, and any customs personnel provided, outside the United States in connection with the departure of any commercial vessel, vehicle, or aircraft, or its passengers, crew, stores, material, or cargo, for the United States; or “(C) in connection with— “(i) the activation or operation (including Customs Service supervision) of any foreign trade zone or subzone established under the Act of June 18, 1934 (commonly know as the Foreign Trade Zones Act, 19 U.S.C. 81a et seq.), or “(ii) the designation or operation (including Customs Service supervision) of any bonded warehouse under section 555 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1555).”. (3) Disposition of fees.— Subsection (f) is amended by striking out paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) and inserting the following: “(f) Disposition of Fees.— (1) There is established in the general fund of the Treasury a separate account which shall be known as the ‘Customs User Fee Account’. Notwithstanding section 524 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1524), there shall be deposited as offsetting receipts into the Customs User Fee Account all fees101 STAT. 1330–379 collected under subsection (a) except that portion of such fees that is required under paragraph (3) for the direct reimbursement of appropriations. “(2) All funds in the Customs User Fee Account shall be available, to the extent provided for in appropriations Acts, to pay the costs (other than costs for which direct reimbursement under paragraph (3) is required) incurred by the United States Customs Service in conducting commercial operations, including, but not limited to, all costs associated with commercial passenger, vessel, vehicle, aircraft, and cargo processing. So long as there is a surplus of funds in the Customs User Fee Account, the Secretary of the Treasury may not reduce personnel staffing levels for providing commercial clearance and preclearance services. “(3) The Secretary of the Treasury, in accordance with such section 524 and without regard to apportionment or any other administrative practice or limitation, shall directly reimburse, from the fees collected under subsection (a), each appropriation for the amount paid out of that appropriation for the costs incurred by the Secretary in providing— “(A) inspectional overtime services; and “(B) all preclearance services; for which the recipients of such services are not required to reimburse the Secretary of the Treasury. Reimbursement under this paragraph shall apply with respect to each fiscal year occurring after September 30, 1987, and shall be made at least quarterly. To the extent necessary, reimbursement of appropriations under this paragraph may be made on the basis of estimates made by the Secretary of the Treasury of the costs for inspectional overtime and preclearance services, and adjustments shall be made in subsequent reimbursements to the extent that the estimates were in excess of, or less than, the amounts required to be reimbursed.”. (4) Regulations.— Subsection (g) is amended— (A) by striking out “(g) Regulations.—The” and inserting “(g) Regulations.—(1) In addition to the regulations required under paragraph (2), the “; and (B) by inserting at the end thereof the following new paragraph: “(2) The Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe regulations governing the work shifts of customs personnel at airports. Such regulations shall provide, among such other factors considered appropriate by the Secretary, that— “(A) the work shifts will be adjusted, as necessary, to meet cyclical and seasonal demands and to minimize the use of overtime; “(B) the work shifts will not be arbitrarily reduced or compressed; And “(C) consultation with the Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of the United States Customs Service (established under section 9501(c) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987) will be carried out before adjustments are made in the work shifts.”. (5) Extension of customs user fees program.— Subsection (j)(3) is amended by striking out “1989” and inserting “1990”. (b) Additional Period to Claim Certain Refunds.— Section 1893(g)(2) of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 is amended by striking out “90 days after the date of enactment of this Act” and inserting “90 day-off after the date of the enactment of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987”. 101 STAT. 1330–380 (c) Analysis Regarding the CES Program; Effect on Implementation of Program.— (1) The Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct a comprehensive analysis, including a cost-benefit study, of the centralized cargo examination station (CES) concept from the perspective of both the United States Customs Service and business community users. The analysis shall be submitted on the same day to the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate (hereinafter in this subsection referred to as the “Committees”) not later than March 30, 1988, and shall include recommendations as to how best to implement cargo inspection procedures. (2) The United States Customs Service— (A) may not, after the date of the enactment of this Act, establish any new centralized cargo examination station at any ocean port, airport, or land border location unless the Customs Service provides to the Committees advance notice, in writing, of not less than 90 days regarding the proposed establishment; and (B) shall, on such date of enactment, suspend operations at each centralized cargo examination station that was operating at an airport on the day before such date until the 90th day after a date— (i) that is not earlier than the date on which the analysis required under paragraph (1) is submitted to the Committees, and (ii) on which the Customs Service provides to the Committees notice, in writing, that it intends to resume such operations at the station. During the period of suspension of operations under subparagraph (B) at any centralized cargo examination station at an airport, the Secretary of the Treasury shall maintain customs operations and staffing at that airport at a level not less than that which was in effect immediately before the suspension took effect. (d) Effective Dates.— (1) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the provisions of this section take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act. (2) The amendments made by subsection (a)(1) apply with respect to articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after the 15th day after the date of enactment of this Act. (3) The amendment made by subsection (a)(3) shall take effect on October 1, 1987.