§ 1431. Manifests
(b)
Production of manifest
Any manifest required by the Customs Service shall be signed, produced, delivered or electronically transmitted by the master or person in charge of the vessel, aircraft, or vehicle, or by any other authorized agent of the owner or operator of the vessel, aircraft, or vehicle in accordance with the requirements prescribed under subsection (d) of this section. A manifest may be supplemented by bill of lading data supplied by the issuer of such bill. If any irregularity of omission or commission occurs in any way in respect to any manifest or bill of lading data, the owner or operator of the vessel, aircraft or vehicle, or any party responsible for such irregularity, shall be liable for any fine or penalty prescribed by law with respect to such irregularity. The Customs Service may take appropriate action against any of the parties.
(c)
Public disclosure of certain manifest information
(1)
Except as provided in subparagraph (2), the following information, when contained in a vessel vessel [1] or aircraft manifest, shall be available for public disclosure:
(A)
The name and address of each importer or consignee and the name and address of the shipper to such importer or consignee, unless the importer or consignee has made a biennial certification, in accordance with procedures adopted by the Secretary of the Treasury, claiming confidential treatment of such information.
(2)
The information listed in paragraph (1) shall not be available for public disclosure if—
(3)
The Secretary of the Treasury, in order to allow for the timely dissemination and publication of the information listed in paragraph (1), shall establish procedures to provide access to manifests. Such procedures shall include provisions for adequate protection against the public disclosure of information not available for public disclosure from such manifests.
(d)
Regulations
(1)
In general
The Secretary shall by regulation—
(A)
specify the form for, and the information and data that must be contained in, the manifest required by subsection (a) of this section;
(B)
allow, at the option of the individual producing the manifest and subject to paragraph (2), letters and documents shipments to be accounted for by summary manifesting procedures;
(2)
Letters and documents shipments
For purposes of paragraph (1)(B)—
(B)
standard letter envelopes and standard document packs shall be segregated from larger document shipments for purposes of customs inspections; and
[1] So in original.