Executive Order 2016—Relating to the Customs Service and Providing for Fines for Dishonest Manifests in the Canal Zone

By Virtue of the Authority Vested in Me, I Hereby Establish the Following Order for the Canal Zone: 1. If the master of a vessel, arriving at any port in the Canal Zone from a foreign port, shall fail or refuse to produce to the proper officer of the customs, upon demand by him, the ship's manifest and copies thereof, or shall fail or refuse to give a true account of the destination of such vessel, he shall be subject to a fine of not exceeding five hundred dollars. 2. If any merchandise be found on board any vessel arriving in the Canal Zone from a foreign port, which is not included in her manifest, the master of such vessel shall be liable to a penalty equal in amount to the, value of the merchandise not manifested, and all such merchandise, belonging to or consigned to the officers or crew of the vessel, shall be forfeited, provided, however, that the penalty authorized by this section shall not be imposed if it should be made to appear to the chief customs officer, at the port of entry, or to the court in which the trial shall be held, that no part of the cargo has been unladened, except as accounted for in the master's report, and that the errors and omissions in the manifest were made without fraud or collusion; in such case the master may be allowed to correct his manifest by means of a post-entry. It shall not be lawful to grant a permit to unload any such merchandise, so omitted from the manifest, before such post-entry or addition to report or manifest has been made. 3. If sea stores are found on board of a vessel arriving at the Canal Zone from a foreign port, which are not specified in the list furnished the boarding officer, or if a greater quantity of such articles is found than that specified in such list, or if any of the articles are landed without a permit being first obtained from the customs officer for that purpose, all of such articles omitted from the list or manifest, or so landed, shall be seized and forfeited, and the master of the vessel shall be liable to a penalty of treble the value of the articles so omitted or landed. 4. The officers of the Bureau of Customs are authorized to administer oaths, and to certify invoices covering shipments of merchandise from the Canal Zone to the United States. In the performance of this duty they shall be governed by the United States Consular regulations, and by the circular instructions concerning the certification of invoices issued to consuls of the United States, insofar as they are applicable, provided, however, that any special instructions heretofore issued, or which may be issued by the Treasury Department, concerning the certification of invoices in the Canal Zone, shall be complied with. 5. Any person violating any of the customs laws or the customs rules and regulations established, or to be established, by the Governor of The Panama Canal in conformity with existing laws and orders, shall be subject to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars for each violation of such regulations. 6. This order shall take effect from and after this date. WOODROW WILSON THE WHITE HOUSE, August 8, 1914.