So far as applicable, the general provisions of the regulations governing warehouses bonded for the storage of imported merchandise shall apply to bonded manipulation warehouses and to other designated places of manipulation.

Merchandise to be manipulated under section 562, Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, may be entered on Customs Form 7501, or its electronic equivalent, and sent directly to a storage-manipulation warehouse.

Warehouse proprietors shall not allow manipulation of any merchandise without a prior permit issued by the port director, except as provided in paragraph (h) of this section. Merchandise entered for warehouse may be transferred to a storage-manipulation warehouse; or merchandise entered for storage-manipulation warehouse may be transferred after manipulation to the storage portion of the same warehouse, to another storage warehouse, or to a manufacturing warehouse of class 6.

The application to manipulate, which shall be filed on Customs Form 3499 with the port director having jurisdiction of the warehouse or other designated place of manipulation, shall describe the contemplated manipulation in sufficient detail to enable the port director to determine whether the imported merchandise is to be cleaned, sorted, repacked, or otherwise changed in condition, but not manufactured, within the meaning of section 562, Tariff Act of 1930, as amended. If the port director is satisfied that the merchandise is to be so manipulated, he may issue a permit on Customs Form 3499, making any necessary modification in such form. The port director may approve a blanket application to manipulate on Customs Form 3499, for a period of up to one year, for a continuous or a repetitive manipulation. The warehouse proprietor must maintain a running record of manipulations performed under a blanket application, indicating the quantities before and after each manipulation. The record must show what took place at each manipulation describing marks and numbers of packages, location within the facility, quantities, and description of goods before and after manipulation. The port director is authorized to revoke a blanket approval to manipulate and require the proprietor to file individual applications if necessary to protect the revenue, administer any law or regulation, or both. Manipulation resulting in a change in condition of the merchandise, which will make it subject to a lower rate of duty or free of duty upon withdrawal for consumption, is not precluded by the provisions of such section 562.

No merchandise shall be manipulated elsewhere than in a bonded warehouse unless the merchandise has been regularly entered for consumption or warehouse and is of a class entitled to the warehousing privilege under section 557, Tariff Act of 1930, as amended.

Upon compliance with the provisions of paragraph (d) of this section, manipulated merchandise may be further manipulated before withdrawal in cases where the port director is satisfied that this will not endanger the revenue or interfere with the efficient conduct of Customs business. The merchandise remaining in the warehouse shall be properly repacked after each manipulation.

Except as provided in § 144.38 of this chapter, manipulated merchandise may be withdrawn under any form of withdrawal, but no withdrawal shall be accepted for less than an entire repacked package. Each type of withdrawal filed shall contain a summary statement indicating the quantity in the warehouse account after manipulation and immediately before the withdrawal, the quantity withdrawn on the particular withdrawal, and the quantity remaining in the warehouse after the withdrawal. When merchandise covered by a consumption entry is manipulated elsewhere than in a bonded warehouse and thereafter withdrawn for consumption, the withdrawal shall be on Customs Form 7501, or its electronic equivalent, and shall be liquidated in accordance with § 159.9 of this chapter.

Merchandise which has been entered for warehouse and placed in a Class 9 warehouse (duty-free store) may be unpacked into its smallest irreducible unit for sale without a prior permit issued by the port director. The port director may issue a blanket permit to a duty-free store for up to one year permitting the destruction of merchandise covered by any entry and found to be nonsaleable, if the merchandise to be destroyed is valued at less than 5 percent of the value of the merchandise at time of entry or $1,250, whichever is less, in its undamaged condition. Such permit may be revoked in favor of a permit for each entry and/or destruction whenever necessary to assure proper destruction and protection of the revenue. The proprietor shall maintain a record of unpacking merchandise into saleable units and destruction of nonsaleable merchandise in its inventory and accounting records.