Importing into the United States - Indo-American Chamber Of ...

A licensed customs broker named in a
Customs power of attorney may make entry on
behalf of the exporter or his representative. The
owner’s declaration made by a nonresident
individual or organization which the customs
broker may request must be supported by a
surety bond providing for the payment of
increased or additional duties found due. Liability
for duties is discussed in Chapter 13. An
owner’s declaration executed in a foreign
country is acceptable, but it must be executed
before a notary public and bear the notary’s
seal. Notaries public will be found in all American
embassies around the world and in most
of the larger consulates.
POWER OF ATTORNEY
A nonresident individual, partnership, or
foreign corporation may issue a power of
attorney to a regular employee, customs broker,
partner, or corporation officer to act in the
United States for the nonresident employer.
Any person named in a power of attorney must
be a resident of the United States who has been
authorized to accept service of process on
behalf of the person or organization issuing the
power of attorney. The power of attorney to
accept service of process becomes irrevocable
with respect to Customs transactions duly
undertaken. Either the applicable Customs
form (see Appendix) or a document using the
same language as the form is acceptable. References
to acts which the issuer has not authorized
the agent to perform may be deleted from
the form or omitted from the document. A
power of attorney from a foreign corporation
must be supported by the following documents
or their equivalent when foreign law or practice
differs from that in the United States:
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A certificate from the proper public officer
of the country showing the legal existence
of the corporation, unless the fact of incorporation
is so generally known as to be a
matter of common knowledge.
A copy of that part of the charter or articles
of incorporation which shows the
scope of the corporation’s business and its
governing body.
A copy of the document or part thereof by
which the person signing the power of
attorney derives his authority, such as a
provision of the charter or articles of incorporation,
a copy of the resolution, minutes
of the board of directors’ meeting, or other
document by which the governing body
conferred this authority. In this case, a
copy is required of the bylaws or other
document giving the governing board the
authority to designate others to appoint
agents or attorney.
A nonresident individual or partnership or
a foreign corporation may issue a power of
attorney to authorize the persons or firms
named in the power of attorney to issue like
powers of attorney to other qualified residents
of the United States and to empower the residents
to whom such powers of attorney are
issued to accept service of process on behalf of
the nonresident individual or organizations.
A power of attorney issued by a partnership
must be limited to a period not to exceed
two years from the date of execution and shall
state the names of all members of the partnership.
One member of a partnership may execute
a power of attorney for the transaction of
customs business of the partnership. When a
new firm is formed by a change of membership,
the prior firm’s power of attorney is no
longer effective for any customs purpose. The
new firm will be required to issue a new power
of attorney for the transaction of its customs
business. All other powers of attorney may be
granted for an unlimited period.
Customs Form 5291, or a document using
the same language as the form, is also used to
empower an agent other than an attorney-at-law
or customs broker to file protests on behalf of an
importer under section 514 of the Tariff Act of
1930 as amended. (See 19 CFR 141.32.)
Foreign corporations may comply with
Customs regulations by executing a power of
attorney on the corporation’s letterhead. A
form of power of attorney used for this purpose
is given below. A nonresident individual
or partner may use this same form.
IMPORTING INTO THE UNITED STATES
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