No. 9.
To the consular officers of the United
States.
Washington, July 9, 1879.
Gentlemen: The Secretary of the Treasury has addressed a letter to the Department, of the 28th ultimo, in which he adverts to his letter of the 1st of February last, which formed the subject of Circular No. 12, [Page 11] of the 13th of that month, in reference to charges not expressly specified in invoices of imported goods, where such goods are not described therein as being free of charges, and now submits, in reference to the subject, that the appraiser at New York has reported to him that in many instances invoices have contained a clause, approved by the consul, that the invoice price included the shipping and other charges, when such was not the case; and suggests that consular officers may be laboring under an impression that under their instructions they are to require shippers to state in their invoices in all cases that the invoice charges, include the shipping and other charges.
It is hardly necessary to state that it was the intention of the Treasury Department to require the insertion in invoices of a clause showing that the invoice prices include the charges only when such is actually the case. Where the invoice does not properly include charges, a specification in detail of the charges is to be given in the invoice in all cases.
I am, gentlemen, your obedient servant,
Assistant Secretary.