How to determine whether your case is governed by CAFRA or falls in the "Customs carve out" exception

[Revised 5/24/2008]

The Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000 ("CAFRA") changed a lot of the procedural requirements for most forfeiture cases "commenced" after August 23, 2000, including different requirements for motions and pleadings in "CAFRA cases" -- so be careful to check on the current law before using an older motion or pleading, or relying on older case law. 

However, CAFRA did not change the procedures for all types of forfeiture cases.  Cases brought by Customs (seizures at the border for failure to declare goods, etc.) and other forfeiture statutes that are specified in the "Customs carve-out" (see below) still use the old procedures.  Here is an excerpt from FEAR's Asset Forfeiture Defense Manual which explains how to determine which procedures apply. 

The procedural reforms of CAFRA’s new section 18 U.S.C. § 983 do not apply to all civil forfeiture cases.

The most commonly used forfeiture statutes are governed by the new CAFRA procedures. CAFRA applies to drug and money laundering forfeiture cases, and forfeitures for immigration, gambling, cash transaction reporting requirement violations and a multitude of lesser known forfeiture statutes (currently there are over 300 federal offenses that trigger forfeiture).

CAFRA’s § 983(i) defines “civil forfeiture statute” for purposes of the procedural reforms of § 983 to exclude cases brought under:
•    any Customs forfeiture statute (codified in title 19 U.S.Code),
•    IRS forfeiture statutes (codified in title 26 U.S.Code), Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act forfeiture statutes (21 U.S.C. §301-395),
•    the Trading with the Enemy Act (50 U.S.C. App. 1), or 22 U.S.C. § 401 (illegal exportation of war materials)

The DoJ’s Asset Forfeiture News calls § 983(i) the “Customs carve-out,” and we’ll use that term as well. The Customs carve-out only exempts those cases from the procedural reforms which CAFRA codified in 18 U.S.C. § 983. The rest of CAFRA applies to all types of civil forfeiture cases.

CAFRA reforms apply to forfeiture proceedings “commenced” after 8/23/2000.

See FEAR's Asset Forfeiture Defense Manual, pp. 26-27.