HQ 111950: Payment of Harbor Maintenance Fee

Native CBP ruling rendition. Applicability is fact-specific; modification/revocation relationships and original publisher date are retained. Publisher sentinel year0001 means unknown date, not a historical legal adoption.

                            HQ 111950

                        November 19, 1991



VES-5-08-CO:R:IT:C 111950 MLR

CATEGORY:  Carriers

David Okerson
NVOCC Manager
Sea Express International, Inc.
Indtrans International Division
P.O. Box 41437
Indianapolis, IN  46241

RE:  Payment of Harbor Maintenance Fee

Dear Mr. Okerson:

     This is in reference to your letter dated October 10, 1991,
concerning who is responsible for the payment of the harbor
maintenance fee.

FACTS:

     Sea Express International, Inc. performs freight forwarding
duties for General Electric Company.  In your letter, you state
that Sea Express received routing instructions from General
Electric in which General Electric attached its Commercial
Invoice consigning the cargo to Sea Express for shipment.  You
contend that Sea Express has no legal claim to the cargo in
question.  General Electric instructed Sea Express to prepare the
export documentation so that General Electric does not appear as
the shipper/exporter.  General Electric contends that it is not
responsible for paying the harbor maintenance fee.

ISSUE:

Who is responsible for paying the harbor maintenance fee.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     Section 24.24 of the Customs Regulations provides for the
payment of a harbor maintenance fee.  19 C.F.R.  24.24 (1991).
Commercial cargo loaded on a commercial vessel is subject to a
port use fee of 0.125 percent of its value.  56 Fed. Reg. 21446
(1991) (to be codified at 19 C.F.R.  24.24).  According to the
U.S. Customs Service, "when cargo is loaded on a commercial
vessel for export at a port...the exporter of that cargo (the
name that appears on the SED [Shipper's Export Declaration]...)
is liable for the payment of the port use fee at the time of
loading."  19 C.F.R.  24.24(e)(2) (1991).

     For purposes of the collection of the harbor maintenance
fee, the SED should be completed in accordance with 19 C.F.R.
 4.63 and 15 C.F.R. Part 30.  Section 30.7(d) of the Commerce
Regulations states that the exporter named on the SED shall be
the "principal or seller" in the export transaction.  15 C.F.R.
 30.7(d) (1991).  The SED

     shall be prepared by the shipper, owner, or consignor,
     or his properly authorized agent.  For shipments to
     foreign countries, if the Shipper's Export Declaration
     is prepared by an agent his authority to sign such
     declaration shall be in the form of a properly executed
     power of attorney, signed by the shipper, owner, or
     consignor, or in the less formal written authorization
     printed on the export declaration.

15 C.F.R.  30.4(a) (1991).  Exporters who authorize the
preparation of their export declarations by an agent shall
provide the agent with information to meet the requirements of
section 30.7 of the Commerce Regulations, which state what
information is required on the SED.  Id.  Invoices furnished to
the agent for other purposes may not necessarily contain all of
the information needed for the preparation of the SED.  Id.

HOLDING:

     Absent any private contract between the parties, for the
purposes of the U.S. Customs Service, the harbor maintenance fee
is to be paid by the exporter of that cargo, i.e. the name that
appears on the Shipper's Export Declaration.  Based upon a plain
reading of the Commerce Regulations, the name that is to appear
on the SED generally shall be the principal or seller.  Any
further questions relating to the application and interpretation
of title 15 of the Code of Federal Regulations should be directed
to the Foreign Trade Division, Bureau of the Census.

                                   Sincerely,




                                   B. James Fritz
                                   Chief
                                   Carrier Rulings Branch