§19.1. Classes of customs warehouses. — Inbound Citations

(a) The proprietor of a class 11 general order warehouse as described in § 19.1 must have an automated inventory control and recordkeeping system. Proprietors of existing class 3, 4, or 5 warehouses as described in § 19.1 certified before December 9, 2002, to receive general order merchandise must have automated inventory control and recordkeeping systems in place with respect to general order merchandise after a period of 2 years from December 9, 2002. All other warehouse proprietors have a choice of maintaining manual or automated inventory control and recordkeeping systems or a combination of manual and automated systems. All inventory control and recordkeeping systems must be capable of:

(1) Accounting for all merchandise transported, deposited, stored, manipulated, manufactured, smelted, refined, destroyed in or removed from the bonded warehouse and all merchandise collected by a proprietor or his agent for transport to his warehouse. The records must provide an audit trail from deposit through manipulation, manufacture, destruction, and withdrawal from the bonded warehouse either by specific identification or other CBP authorized inventory method. The records to be maintained are those which a prudent businessman in the same type of business can be expected to maintain. The records are to be kept in sufficient detail to permit effective and efficient determination by CBP of the proprietor's compliance with these regulations and correctness of his annual submission or reconciliation;

(2) Producing accurate and timely reports and documents as required by this part; and

(3) Identifying shortages and overages of merchandise in sufficient detail to determine the quantity, description, tariff classification and value of the missing or excess merchandise so that appropriate reports can be filed with CBP on a timely basis.

(a) With the concurrence of the proprietors of the delivering and receiving warehouses, merchandise may be transferred from one bonded warehouse to another at the same port under Customs supervision and at the expense of the importer upon his written request to the port director, who shall issue an order for such transfer on Customs Form 6043. However, the port director may require the filing of a rewarehouse entry under § 144.41 if he determines it necessary for proper control of the merchandise. All charges shall be paid before merchandise is transferred from a warehouse of class 1 (see § 19.1 of this chapter for classes of warehouses). The quantities of goods so transferred shall be subject to the joint determination of the warehouse proprietor and the cartman, lighterman, or private bonded carrier, as provided in § 19.6 of this chapter.