The principal features of the Mod Act are: • improvements in customs enforcement generally; • enhanced regulatory audit procedures; • clarified
drawback authority and new drawback penalties for false drawback claims (previously, U.S. customs laws had no penalties for companies that filed false claims, and as such companies had no incentive to expend the effort to file the claims correctly.); • the creation of a National Customs Automation Program; and • the acceptance of reconciliations with respect to prior entry summaries. Section 637 of the Mod Act amended section 484 of the Tariff Act of 1930 and imposed on importers for the first time a statutory duty to exercise "
reasonable care" in providing CBP with accurate and timely classification,
appraisement and other data upon importing cargo. CBP then establishes the final classification, appraisement and rate of
duty applicable to an imported good based on the importer's data. Importers face penalties for failing to exercise reasonable care. The Mod Act also contained several amendments to the
enforcement powers of CBP. • To the extent that an importer fails to use reasonable care, Customs may impose
Section 592 penalties. • Section 615 amended section 509 of the Tariff Act, creating new recordkeeping penalties for importers up to $100,000. • Section 621 amended section 592 to apply existing penalties for false information to information transmitted electronically and allows Customs to recover unpaid taxes and fees resulting from other section 592 violations. ==See also==