(a) Restrictions. Customs examination of mail as provided in paragraph (b) of this section is subject to the restrictions and safeguards relating to the opening of letter class mail set forth in § 145.3.
(b) Generally. All mail arriving from outside the Customs territory of the United States which is to be delivered within the Customs territory of the United States and all mail arriving from outside the U.S. Virgin Islands which is to be delivered within the U.S. Virgin Islands, is subject to Customs examination, except:
(1) Mail known or believed to contain only official documents addressed to officials of the U.S. Government;
(2) Mail addressed to Ambassadors and Ministers (Chiefs of Diplomatic Missions) of foreign countries; and
(3) Letter class mail known or believed to contain only correspondence or documents addressed to diplomatic missions, consular posts, or the officers thereof, or to international organizations designated by the President as public international organizations pursuant to the International Organizations Act (see § 148.87(b) of this chapter). Mail, other than letter class mail, addressed to the designated international organizations is subject to Customs examination except where the organization certifies under its official seal that the mail contains no dutiable or prohibited articles. Any Customs examination made shall, upon request of the addressee international organization, take place in the presence of an appropriate representative of that organization.
[T.D. 78-102, 43 FR 14454, Apr. 6, 1978]
Notes of Decisions
United States v. Steven Baxter, 951 F.3d 128 (3rd Cir. 2020).
· cites it 2× “1 , a regulation that defines certain classes of mail; (2) 19 C.F.R. § 145.2 , which authorizes, inter alia, customs examination of “all mail arriving from outside the U.”
United States v. Manuel Flores-Montano, 424 F.3d 1044 (9th Cir. 2005).
“The distinction between the two statutes is carried over into the regulations: § 482’s reasonable-cause-to-suspect requirement is not incorporated into the regulations governing customs inspections of packages entering the country.”
Byungmin Chae v. United States, 2024 CIT 126 (Ct. Intl. Trade 2024).
· cites it 6× “27 was improper given that a vague term in 19 C.F.R. § 145.2 rendered Question No. 27 a faulty question.”
United States v. Glasser, 750 F.2d 1197 (3rd Cir. 1984).
· cites it 2× “19 C.F.R. § 145.2 (b) (1984). Article 145 also contains more stringent regulations dealing with the opening of sealed letter class mail.”
DeVries v. Acree, 565 F.2d 577 (9th Cir. 1977).
· cites it 4× “§ 482 required that customs searches be supported by reasonable cause to suspect that the letters contained contraband or dutiable merchandise, it concluded that the search was authorized by “19 U.”
United States v. Kamyar Taghizadeh, 41 F.3d 1263 (9th Cir. 1994).
· cites it 3× “Properly read, the two sections preserve the important distinction between customs searches at the border and other customs searches.”
United States v. Nguyen, 701 F. Supp. 747 (D. Haw. 1988).
“The United States specifically cites 19 C.F.R. § 145.2 (b) which provides: All mails arriving from outside the Customs territory of the United States which is to be delivered within the Customs territory of the United States, .”
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