PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Apr 29, 2002
Port Terrorism Prevention Act of 2002 - Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to revise the nature of the liability of vessel, aircraft, or vehicle owners or operators, or other responsible parties for manifest irregularities. Specifies unreported shortages or overages instead of irregularities as the causes of liability.Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to prohibit the use of certain descriptions of merchandise that do not provide adequate information regarding the merchandise on a required manifest.Directs the Commissioner of Customs to develop software to carry out the automated manifest system that will reject such prohibited merchandise descriptions.Doubles from $5,000 to $10,000 the civil penalties for inaccurate manifests, and raises from $10,000 to $15,000 the penalty for a second violation, and to $20,000 for each subsequent violation.Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on the effectiveness of automated systems for the review of manifest and bill of lading data.Requires the Customs Service to increase the number of manual inspections of merchandise carried on vessels required to make entry with a view toward manually inspecting ten percent of all such merchandise.Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to eligible entities to research and develop technologies that can be used to secure the ports of the United States.
People & committees
Sen. Schumer, Charles E. [D-NY] · D–NY
Legislative record
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Introduced in Senate
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Source last updated: Aug 19, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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