19 USC § 197 - Duties, how payable

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t19/s197"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_prima_facie"
title: "19 USC § 197 - Duties, how payable"
title_number: 19
title_name: "CUSTOMS DUTIES"
section_number: "197"
section_name: "Duties, how payable"
chapter_number: 3
chapter_name: "THE TARIFF AND RELATED PROVISIONS"
positive_law: false
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-17"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(R.S. § 3009; Feb. 27, 1877, ch. 69, 19 Stat. 247, 249.)"
---


# § 197. Duties, how payable

section 198 of this title

Except as provided in  all duties upon imports shall be collected in ready money, and shall be paid in coin, coin certificates, and such other certificates or Treasury notes as may by law be declared receivable in payment thereof.

---

**Source Credit**: (R.S. § 3009; Feb. 27, 1877, ch. 69, 19 Stat. 247, 249.)

## Editorial Notes

### Codification

R.S. § 3009 derived from acts , ; , ; , .

R.S. § 3473, formerly cited as a credit to this section, was repealed by , title IV, § 402(a), , , 2682, effective .

> “All duties upon imports shall be collected in ready money, and shall be paid in coin or coin certificates or in United States notes, payable on demand, authorized to be issued prior to the twenty-fifth day of February, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and by law receivable in payment of public dues.”

Prior to its incorporation into the Code, R.S. § 3009, as amended by , , read:

Its provisions were changed to conform to  authorizing the receipt of certified checks in payment of duties; , Money and Finance (, ) making certain certificates and treasury notes receivable for customs; , (, ) making gold certificates a legal tender in payment of all debts and dues, public and private; and a provision of , , as amended (omitted from the Code as superseded by ) that gold certificates should be receivable for customs.