An administrative forfeiture proceeding begins when notice is first published in accordance with § 12.12, or the first personal written notice is sent in accordance with the regulations in this section, whichever occurs first.

(a) Manner of providing notice. After seizing property subject to administrative forfeiture, the Service or the Solicitor, in addition to publishing notice of the seizure, will send personal written notice of the seizure to each interested party in a manner reasonably calculated to reach such parties. The notice of seizure and proposed forfeiture will not be sent to any person who signed an abandonment form. The notice of seizure and proposed forfeiture will be sent by U.S. registered or certified mail, express mail, or commercial carrier, all with proof of delivery and return receipt requested. The notice will be sent to an address that has been provided on shipping or other documents accompanying the property or on your permit or license application, unless the Service or the Solicitor has actual notice of a different address.

(b) Content of personal written notice. The personal written notice sent by the Service or the Solicitor will contain the following information:

(1) A description of the seized property;

(2) The name, title, and business address to whom any petition for remission or claim for judicial proceedings must be filed, as well as a seizure tag number;

(3) The date and place of seizure, and the estimated value of the property as determined under § 12.3;

(4) A reference to provisions of law or regulations under which the property is subject to forfeiture;

(5) A statement that the Service or the Solicitor intends to proceed with administrative forfeiture proceedings;

(6) The date when the personal written notice is sent;

(7) The deadline for filing claims for judicial forfeiture proceedings, which is 35 days after the personal written notice is sent, as well as the deadline for filing petitions for remission; and

(8) A statement that any interested party may file a claim or petition for remission by the deadline.

(c) Date of personal notice. Personal written notice is sent on the date when the Service or the Solicitor places the notice in the mail, delivers it to a commercial carrier, or otherwise sends it by means reasonably calculated to reach the interested party.

(d) Timing of notification. The Service or the Solicitor will notify you in writing of any seizure of your property as soon as practicable and not more than 60 days after the date of seizure. If property is detained at an international border or port of entry for the purpose of examination, testing, inspection, obtaining documentation, or other investigation relating to the importation or the exportation of the property, the 60-day period will begin to run when the period of detention ends, if the Service seizes the property for the purpose of forfeiture to the United States.

(e) Exceptions to the 60-day notification requirement. The exceptions in 18 U.S.C. 983(a)(1), including but not limited to the exceptions listed in this paragraph (e), apply to the notice requirement under paragraph (d) of this section.

(1) If the identity or interest of an interested party is determined after the seizure of the property but before entering a declaration of forfeiture, the Service or the Solicitor will send written notice to such interested party under paragraph (a) of this section not more than 60 days after the date that the identity of the interested party or the interested party's interest is determined.

(2) For the purposes of this section, we do not consider property that has been refused entry, held for identification, held for an investigation as evidence, or detained for less than 30 days under part 14 of this chapter, to be seized.

(3) If, before the time period for sending notice expires, the Government files a civil judicial forfeiture action against the seized property and provides notice of such action as required by law, personal notice of administrative forfeiture is not required under paragraph (a) of this section.

(4) If, before the time period for sending notice expires, the Government does not file a civil judicial forfeiture action, but does obtain a criminal indictment containing an allegation that the property is subject to forfeiture, the Government will either:

(i) Send notice within the 60 days specified under paragraph (a) of this section and continue the administrative civil forfeiture proceeding; or

(ii) Terminate the administrative civil forfeiture proceeding and take the steps necessary to preserve its right to maintain custody of the property as provided in the applicable criminal forfeiture statute.

(f) Extensions to the 60-day notification requirement. The Director may extend the 60-day deadline for sending personal written notice under these regulations in a particular case one time, for a period not to exceed 30 days, unless further extended by a court, only if the Director determines that the notice may have an adverse result including endangering the life or physical safety of an individual, flight from prosecution, destruction of or tampering with evidence, intimidation of potential witnesses, or otherwise seriously jeopardizing an investigation or unduly delaying a trial.

(a) After seizing property subject to administrative forfeiture, the Service will select from the following options a means of publication reasonably calculated to notify potential claimants of the seizure and the Service's intent to forfeit and sell or otherwise dispose of the property:

(1) Publication once each week for at least 3 successive weeks in a newspaper generally circulated in the judicial district where the property was seized; or

(2) Posting a notice on the official government internet site at http://www.fws.gov/fwsforfeiture/ for at least 30 consecutive days.

(b) The published notice will:

(1) Describe the seized property;

(2) State the date, statutory basis, and place of seizure;

(3) State the deadline for filing a claim when personal written notice has not been received, which must be at least 30 days after the date of final publication of the notice of seizure; and

(4) State the name, title, and business address to whom any petition for remission or claim for judicial proceedings must be filed.

(a) If the seizing agency commences a timely proceeding against property subject to administrative forfeiture, and either no valid and timely claim is filed or the seized property is not released in response to a petition or supplemental petition for remission, the Service or the Solicitor will declare the property forfeited to the United States for disposition according to law. The declaration of forfeiture will have the same force and effect as a final decree and order of forfeiture in a Federal judicial forfeiture proceeding.

(b) The declaration of forfeiture will describe the property and state the date, time, place, and reason for the seizure of the property. The declaration of forfeiture will refer to the notice of seizure and proposed forfeiture and describe the dates and manner in which the notice of seizure and proposed forfeiture was sent to you. If we have no proof of delivery to you of the notice of seizure and proposed forfeiture, the declaration of forfeiture will describe the efforts made to deliver the notice of seizure and proposed forfeiture to you.

Under 18 U.S.C. 983(a)(1)(F), if the Service or the Solicitor does not send notice of a seizure of property in accordance with that section to the person from whom the property was seized, and no extension of time was granted, the Government is required to return the property to that person, unless the property is contraband or other property that is illegal to possess. Any return of property under this section does not prejudice the right of the Government to commence a forfeiture proceeding at a later time.