SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) San Juan Field Operations officers and import specialists seized a car that was falsely declared as a Utility Terrain Vehicle (UTV), not complying with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
CBP’s Trade Sensitive Team (TST) performed an intensive examination of merchandise manifested as a UTV, which revealed that its structure and components were not of a typical UTV.
CBP consulted the inspection with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), whose findings indicated that the UTVs’ components and construction met the criteria to consider the item as a “motor vehicle.”
To be lawfully imported, a vehicle must be originally manufactured to comply with all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) and bear a label certifying such compliance that is permanently affixed in a prescribed location by the vehicle’s original manufacturer in order to be imported free of restrictions into the United States. -CBP
