An Act to Amend Act Numbered Three Hundred and Fifty-Five, Entitled "An Act to Constitute the Customs Service of the Philippine Archipelago and to Provide for the Administration There of," as Amended, by Providing a More Expeditious Method of Dealing with Small Seizures and by Defining the Term "Officer of the Customs:"

December 14, 1906

ACT NO. 1576

AN ACT TO AMEND ACT NUMBERED THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIVE, ENTITLED "AN ACT TO CONSTITUTE THE CUSTOMS SERVICE OF THE PHILIPPINE ARCHIPELAGO AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE ADMINISTRATION THERE OF," AS AMENDED, BY PROVIDING A MORE EXPEDITIOUS METHOD OF DEALING WITH SMALL SEIZURES AND BY DEFINING THE TERM "OFFICER OF THE CUSTOMS:"

SECTION 1. Sections three hundred and thirteen, three hundred and thirteen (a), and three hundred and thirteen (b) of Act Numbered Three hundred and fifty-five, entitled "An Act to constitute the customs service of the Philippine Archipelago and to provide for the administration thereof," as amended by Acts Numbered Eight hundred and sixty-four and Fourteen hundred and five, are hereby so amended as to make the decision of the Insular Collector of Customs final and conclusive in all seizure cases in which the appraised local value of the goods in controversy is less than two hundred pesos: PROVIDED, That in such cases an appeal to the court may be had in the following manner:

Notice of an adverse decision shall be served in the manner prescribed for the service of notices in section three hundred and thirteen (a), as nearly as may be, or, when practicable, by actual personal service on the owner or person in possession at the time of seizure. Any person claiming a right to the possession of the merchandise may, within thirty days after such service of the collector's decision, make claim for all or any part thereof, and pay whatever fine may be assessed thereon; or in cases where forfeiture is adjudged and the goods are other than prohibited importations, pay the local appraised value of such goods, in either case under protest and subject to the conditions prescribed for the "rate and amount of duty cases," in section two hundred and eighty-six of Act Numbered Three hundred and fifty-five; whereupon the collector shall certify up the record to the Court of First Instance, and the action shall proceed as in section two hundred and eighty-seven of said Act Numbered Three hundred and fifty-five:

AND PROVIDED FURTHER, That if no claimant shall appear within sixty days after service of the collector's decision, as above prescribed, the goods shall become absolutely forfeited to the Government, and without further proceedings shall be sold for the benefit of the Government at the first convenient opportunity at public auction in the manner prescribed by law.

SECTION 2. Section three hundred and thirty-three of said Act Numbered Three hundred and fifty-five is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof the following words:

"The expression 'officer of the customs' and like terms shall be construed both in this section and in all other sections of this Act, and in all Acts or laws enforcible in whole or in part by the Insular Collector of Customs or any of his subordinates, so far as the same relate to crimes committed by or upon such officers, to include all persons whose compensation is paid out of customs appropriations or arrastre or other funds controlled by the customs authorities; also storekeepers in private bonded warehouses and persons in charge of Government coal piles."

SECTION 3. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on its passage.

ENACTED, December 14, 1906.