The various provisions of title 18 of the Revised Statutes which are expressed in terms of general application to any particular classes of consular officers, shall be deemed to apply as well to all other classes of such officers and to such other United States citizen employees of the Department of State as may be designated by the Secretary of State pursuant to such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, so far as may be consistent with the subject matter of the same and with the treaties of the United States.

Consuls and vice consuls shall have the right, in the ports or places to which they are severally appointed, of receiving the protests or declarations which captains, masters, crews, passengers, or merchants, who are citizens of the United States, may respectively choose to make there; and also such as any foreigner may choose to make before them relative to the personal interest of any citizen of the United States.

Every consular officer shall keep a detailed list of all seamen and mariners shipped and discharged by him, specifying their names and the names of the vessels on which they are shipped and from which they are discharged, and the payments, if any, made on account of each so discharged; also of the number of the vessels arrived and departed, the amounts of their registered tonnage, and the number of their seamen and mariners, and of those who are protected, and whether citizens of the United States or not, and as nearly as possible the nature and value of their cargoes, and where produced, and shall make returns of the same, with their accounts and other returns, to the Secretary of Commerce.

For the information of the representative of the deceased, the consular officer, or, if no consular officer is present, a diplomatic officer, in the settlement of his estate shall immediately notify his death in one of the gazettes published in the consular district, and also to the Secretary of State, that the same may be notified in the State to which the deceased belonged; and he shall, as soon as may be, transmit to the Secretary of State an inventory of the effects of the deceased taken as before directed.

When a citizen of the United States dies in a foreign country and leaves, by any lawful testamentary disposition, special directions for the custody and management, by the consular officer, or in his absence a diplomatic officer, within whose jurisdiction the death occurred, of the personal property in the foreign country which he possessed at the time of death, such officer shall, so far as the laws of the foreign country permit, strictly observe such directions if not contrary to the laws of the United States. If such citizen has named, by any lawful testamentary disposition, any other person than a consular officer or diplomatic officer to take charge of and manage such property, it shall be the duty of the officer, whenever required by the person so named, to give his official aid in whatever way may be practicable to facilitate the proceedings of such person in the lawful execution of his trust, and, so far as the laws of the country or treaty provisions permit, to protect the property of the deceased from any interference by the authorities of the country where such citizen died. To this end it shall be the duty of the consular officer, or if no consular officer is present a diplomatic officer, to safeguard the decedent’s property by placing thereon his official seal and to break and remove such seal only upon the request of the person designated by the deceased to take charge of and manage his property.

No consular officer of the United States shall accept an appointment from any foreign state as administrator, guardian, or to any other office or trust for the settlement or conservation of estates of deceased persons or of their heirs or of persons under legal disabilities, without executing a bond, with security, to be approved by the Secretary of State, and in a penal sum to be fixed by him and in such form as he may prescribe, conditioned for the true and faithful performance of all his duties according to law and for the true and faithful accounting for delivering, and paying over to the persons thereto entitled of all moneys, goods, effects, and other property which shall come to his hands or to the hands of any other person to his use as such administrator, guardian, or in other fiduciary capacity. Said bond shall be deposited with the Secretary of the Treasury. In case of a breach of any such bond, any person injured by the failure of such officer faithfully to discharge the duties of his said trust according to law, may institute, in his own name and for his sole use, a suit upon said bond and thereupon recover such damages as shall be legally assessed, with costs of suit, for which execution may issue in due form; but if such party fails to recover in the suit, judgment shall be rendered and execution may issue against him for costs in favor of the defendant; and the United States shall in no case be liable for the same. The said bond shall remain, after any judgment rendered thereon, as a security for the benefit of any person injured by a breach of the condition of the same until the whole penalty has been recovered.

Every consular officer who accepts any appointment to any office of trust mentioned in section 4198 of this title without first having complied with the provisions thereof by due execution of a bond as therein required, or who shall willfully fail or neglect to account for, pay over, and deliver any money, property, or effects so received to any person lawfully entitled thereto, after having been requested by the latter, his representative or agent so to do, shall be deemed guilty of embezzlement and shall be punishable by imprisonment for not more than five years and by a fine of not more than $5,000.

No consular officer shall certify any invoice unless he is satisfied that the person making oath thereto is the person he represents himself to be, that he is a credible person, and that the statements made under such oath are true; and he shall, thereupon, by his certificate, state that he was so satisfied.

Fees for the consular certification of invoices shall be, and they are, included with the fees for official services for which the President is authorized by section 4219 of this title to prescribe rates or tariffs.

The fee provided by law for the verification of invoices by consular officers shall, when paid, be held to be a full payment for furnishing blank forms of declaration to be signed by the shipper, and for making, signing, and sealing the certificate of the consular officer thereto; and any consular officer who, under pretense of charging for blank forms, advice, or clerical services in the preparation of such declaration or certificate, charges or receives any fee greater in amount than that provided by law for the verification of invoices, or who demands or receives for any official services, or who allows any clerk or subordinate to receive for any such service, any fee or reward other than the fee provided by law for such service, shall be punishable by imprisonment for not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than $2,000, and shall be removed from his office.

The Secretary of State is authorized to cause, from time to time, the destruction of invoices that have been filed in the consular offices for a period of more than five years.

No consular officer of the United States shall grant a certificate for goods, wares, or merchandise shipped from countries adjacent to the United States which have passed a consulate after purchase for shipment.

All consular officers are authorized and required to retain in their possession all the papers of vessels of the United States, which shall be deposited with them as directed by law, till payment shall be made of all demands and wages on account of such vessels.

No fees named in the tariff of consular fees prescribed by order of the President shall be charged or collected by consular officers for the official services to American vessels and seamen. Consular officers shall furnish the master of every such vessel with an itemized statement of such services performed on account of said vessel, with the fee so prescribed for each service, and make a detailed report to the Secretary of the Treasury of such services and fees, under such regulations as the Secretary of State may prescribe.

No consular officer, nor any person under any consular officer shall make any charge or receive, directly or indirectly, any compensation, by way of commission or otherwise, for receiving or disbursing the wages or extra wages to which any seaman or mariner is entitled who is discharged in any foreign country, or for any money advanced to any such seaman or mariner who seeks relief from any consulate; nor shall any consular officer, or any person under any consular officer, be interested, directly or indirectly, in any profit derived from clothing, boarding or otherwise supplying or sending home any such seaman or mariner. Such prohibition as to profit, however, shall not be construed to relieve or prevent any such officer who is the owner of or otherwise interested in any vessel of the United States from transporting in such vessel any such seaman or mariner, or from receiving or being interested in such reasonable allowance as may be made for such transportation by law.

Consuls, vice consuls, and consular agents in the Dominion of Canada, in the collection of official fees, shall receive foreign moneys at the rate given in the Treasury schedule of the value of foreign coins.

Whenever any consular officer collects, or knowingly allows to be collected for any service, any other or greater fees than are allowed by law for such service, he shall, besides his liability to refund the same, be liable to pay to the person by whom or in whose behalf the same are paid, treble the amount of the unlawful charge so collected, as a penalty, to be recovered with costs, in any proper form of action, by such person for his own use. And in any such case the Secretary of the Treasury may retain, out of the compensation of such officer, the amount of such overcharge and of such penalty, and charge the same to such officer in account, and may thereupon refund such unlawful charge, and pay such penalty to the person entitled to the same if he shall think proper so to do.

Every consul general, consul, or vice consul appointed to perform the duty of any such officer, who omits to collect any fees which he is entitled to charge for any official service, shall be liable to the United States therefor, as if he had collected the same; unless, upon good cause shown therefor, the Secretary of the Treasury shall think proper to remit the same.

All consular agents, as are allowed for their compensation the whole or any part of the fees which they may collect, shall make returns in such manner as the Government Accountability Office shall prescribe, of all such fees as they or any person in their behalf so collect.

Every consular officer of the United States is required, whenever application is made to him therefor, within the limits of his consulate, to administer to or take from any person any oath, affirmation, affidavit, or deposition, and to perform any other notarial act which any notary public is required or authorized by law to do within the United States; and for every such notarial act performed he shall charge in each instance the appropriate fee prescribed by the President under section 4219 of this title.

It shall be the duty of all consular officers at all times to keep posted up in their offices, respectively, in a conspicuous place, and subject to the examination of all persons interested therein, a copy of such rates or tariffs as shall be in force.

Every consular officer who willfully neglects to render true and just quarterly accounts and returns of the business of his office, and of moneys received by him for the use of the United States, or who neglects to pay over any balance of said moneys due to the United States at the expiration of any quarter, before the expiration of the next succeeding quarter, or who shall receive money, property, or effects belonging to a citizen of the United States and shall not within a reasonable time after demand made upon him by the Secretary of State or by such citizen, his executor, administrator, or legal representative, account for and pay over all moneys, property, and effects, less his lawful fees, due to such citizen, shall be deemed guilty of embezzlement, and shall be punishable by imprisonment for not more than five years, and by a fine of not more than $2,000.

If any consul or vice consul falsely and knowingly certifies that property belonging to foreigners is property belonging to citizens of the United States, he shall be punishable by imprisonment for not more than three years, and by a fine of not more than $10,000.

All fees collected by diplomatic and consular officers for and in behalf of the United States shall be collected in the coin of the United States, or at its representative value in exchange.

Every secretary of embassy or legation and consular officer is authorized, whenever he is required or deems it necessary or proper so to do, at the post, port, place, or within the limits of his embassy, legation, or consulate, to administer to or take from any person an oath, affirmation, affidavit, or deposition, and to perform any notarial act which any notary public is required or authorized by law to do within the United States. At any post, port, or place where there is no consular officer, the Secretary of State may authorize any other officer or employee of the United States Government who is a United States citizen serving overseas, including any contract employee of the United States Government, to perform such acts, and any such contractor so authorized shall not be considered to be a consular officer. Every such oath, affirmation, affidavit, deposition, and notarial act administered, sworn, affirmed, taken, had, or done, by or before any such officer, when certified under his hand and seal of office, shall be as valid, and of like force and effect within the United States, to all intents and purposes, as if administered, sworn, affirmed, taken, had, or done, by or before any other person within the United States duly authorized and competent thereto. If any person shall willfully and corruptly commit perjury, or by any means procure any person to commit perjury in any such oath, affirmation, affidavit, or deposition, within the intent and meaning of any Act of Congress now or hereafter made, such offender may be charged, proceeded against, tried, convicted, and dealt with in any district of the United States, in the same manner, in all respects, as if such offense had been committed in the United States, before any officer duly authorized therein to administer or take such oath, affirmation, affidavit, or deposition, and shall be subject to the same punishment and disability therefor as are or shall be prescribed by any such act for such offense; and any document purporting to have affixed, impressed, or subscribed thereto, or thereon the seal and signature of the officer administering or taking the same in testimony thereof, shall be admitted in evidence without proof of any such seal or signature being genuine or of the official character of such person; and if any person shall forge any such seal or signature, or shall tender in evidence any such document with a false or counterfeit seal or signature thereto, knowing the same to be false or counterfeit, he shall be deemed and taken to be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction shall be imprisoned not exceeding three years nor less than one year, and fined, in a sum not to exceed $3,000, and may be charged, proceeded against, tried, convicted, and dealt with therefor in the district where he may be arrested or in custody. Pursuant to such regulations as the Secretary of State may prescribe, the Secretary may designate any other employee of the Department of State who is a citizen of the United States to perform any notarial function authorized to be performed by a consular officer of the United States under this Act.

Until the United States shall have consular officer resident in the State of the Vatican City, a copy of any document of record or on file in a public office of said State of the Vatican City, certified by the lawful custodian of such document, may be authenticated, as provided in section 1741 of title 28, by a consular officer of the United States resident in the city of Rome, Kingdom of Italy, and such document or record shall, when so certified and authenticated, be admissible in evidence in any court of the United States.

All fees, official or unofficial, received by any officer in the Consular Service for services rendered in connection with the duties of his office or as a consular officer, including fees for notarial services, and fees for taking depositions, executing commissions or letters rogatory, settling estates, receiving or paying out moneys, caring for or disposing of property, shall be accounted for and paid into the Treasury of the United States, and the sole and only compensation of such officers shall be by salaries fixed by law. And vice-consuls, in addition to such compensation as they may be entitled to receive as consuls or clerks, may receive such portion of the salaries of the consul-general or consuls for whom they act as shall be provided by regulation.

The provisions of sections 1196 1

The President is authorized, whenever the necessity for such offices with a view to effecting economies in accounting procedure is apparent, to prescribe certain fiscal districts or areas and to establish within each such district as a part of the Department of State service, a district accounting and disbursing office to exercise control over the accounts and returns of all diplomatic missions and consular offices within the district in such manner as the President may direct. To each such office may be assigned the administrative accounting responsibility for receipts and expenditures of the diplomatic missions and consular offices within the district. Each district office shall be in charge of an accountable officer, to whom all fees, and other official monies, received by any diplomatic, consular, or Foreign Service officer may be accounted for, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of State, all such fees and monies, or the residue thereof after the payment of salaries, allowances, and current expenses of the diplomatic missions and consular offices within the district, to be paid by the district accounting and disbursing officer into the Treasury of the United States. Such district accounting and disbursing officers accountable for public monies may entrust monies to other officers for the purpose of having them make disbursements as his agent, and the officer to whom the monies are entrusted, as well as the officer who entrusts the monies to him, shall be held pecuniarily responsible therefor to the United States. All diplomatic, consular or Foreign Service officers on duty within the area covered by such district offices may be required to render accounts of their disbursements to the officer in charge of such district office to be included in his accounts.

Section 3522 of title 31, and any other existing statutes, in so far as they conflict with this section are hereby amended.

All fees and other official monies received by diplomatic missions or consular offices or by the district accounting and disbursing offices provided in section 4225 of this title, may be transmitted through the Department of State for deposit in the United States Treasury, or may be used in payment of salaries, allowances, and current expenses of said missions and offices, under such rules and regulations as the President may from time to time prescribe; the residue, if any, to be transmitted through the Department of State for deposit in the United States Treasury. Section 3302(b) of title 31 is hereby amended.