Interpretation ID: nht91-5.10

DATE: July 31, 1991

FROM: Paul Jackson Rice -- Chief Counsel, NHTSA

TO: John D. Hayes -- Port Brokers Inc.

TITLE: None

ATTACHMT: Attached to letter dated 7-19-91 from John D. Hayes to Chief Council Office, NHTSA (OCC 6279)

TEXT:

This is in reply to your FAX of July 19, 1991, with respect to the prospective importation of a nonconforming DAF truck tractor and trailer.

Specifically, the vehicles will arrive "on a Carnet basis." The trailer contains a jumbo video screen "that will be used in a concert tour throughout the United States over a 30 days period of time, at the end of which, the vehicles will be exported." You wish a legal interpretation "in what is necessary for this vehicle and trailer to travel throughout the United States." It is your understanding that Form HS 7 would be used, "and box 7 would be completed."

We assume that the "carnet" to which you refer is the Carnet de passages en douane, or temporary importation papers, authorized by Article 7 Section 1 of the Customs Convention on the Temporary Importation of Private Road Vehicles. Under Article 8, a carnet is issued in the name of the vehicle owner, or "those who have the possession or control of them provided that, if the vehicle has been hired, the papers shall be made out in the name of the hirer."

If the prospective importer of the nonconforming truck tractor and trailer is a nonresident of the United States, the vehicles are eligible for entry under box 5 of the HS 7 Form, the nonresident declaration (49 CFR 591.5(d))). If the intended importer is a resident of the United States, we would be willing to allow temporary entry under box 7 (49 CFR 591.5(j)), as nonconforming vehicles entered for "demonstrations or training."

Because the United States is a signatory to the Customs Convention, a vehicle of foreign registry admitted pursuant to a carnet should encounter no difficulty in travelling through the United States under the laws of the various States and municipalities.