|
Certifying for Release via Entry Summary on multiple
Ultimate Consignee Shipments
January
10, 2005
U.S. Customs has issued a National Directive that they
will no longer allow entry filers (brokers) to "certify for release via
entry summary" on multiple Ultimate Consignee shipments. This process
allowed U.S. Customs Brokers to just declare the highest valued Ultimate
Consignee. U.S. Brokers have been using the process for some clients.
Customs has not put a stop to this work-around and made the new directive
retroactive to January 1, 2005.
Effective immediately, each item going to each Ultimate Consignee must be
declared separately to Customs. Remember, the Customs definition of
Ultimate Consignee is, "The party in the U.S. to whom the foreign company
sold the imported merchandise" (meaning the buyer). Therefore if there
are multiple buyers and multiple actual consignees on a single shipment,
each item for each buyer has to be transmitted separately to Customs in
order for goods to be released. Further, when the shipment shows up at
the border, the physical paperwork also needs to list the actual consignees
in addition to the Ultimate Consignees (buyers).
Shippers should change paperwork in reporting correct information
immediately.
Also keep in mind MULTIPLE ULTIMATE
CONSIGNEES
& shipment that are NOT subject to FDA-PN, each line valued at or over
$2000 needs an Ultimate Consignee with a valid IRS#
and each line valued under $2000 needs a consignee listed with a name and
address (IRS# is optional).
Carriers,
this also means separate transactions requiring separate advance cargo
reporting.
CBP Changes Policy on Remote Filing for Textile Entries
15 FEb 2005,
ST&R
US Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) recently issued a memorandum to its field offices
(TBT-05-003) regarding remote filing for textile entries. CBP announced
that, effective February 11, filers may utilize Remote Location Filing (RLF)
or the Electronic Invoice Program (EIP) for Entry Type 01 textile entries
if certain requirements are met. This marks a change in CBP’s policy
regarding submission of textile country of origin declaration.
CBP’s regulations require that an appropriate textile country of origin
declaration accompany all importations of textiles and textile products.
However, CBP has found a method by which such declarations can be
collected for the purpose of facilitating participation in RLF and EIP,
which allow the electronic transmission of entries from a location within
the US other than the port of arrival or location of examination.
Specifically, RLF and EIP entries for textile merchandise must indicate in
the electronic invoice transmission, through the use of certain codes,
that a textile country of origin declaration is on file and is readily
available to CBP upon request.
For textile entries using these new procedures, if CBP requests the paper
submission of the textile country of origin declaration, the filer must
provide it immediately. Failure to respond to CBP’s request may result in
the discontinuation of entries being processed via RLF/EIP for that filer.
CBP also warns that a pattern of making incorrect origin claims or
classification determinations that result in the circumvention of a
safeguard or other admissibility restraint may result in the
discontinuation of entries being processed via RLF/EIP for that filer.
U.S. Customs drops C-TPAT requirement for ACE
02
Feb 2005,
CSCB
The following article
is excerpted from the 2 February 2005 edition of "American Shipper".
Participation in the
Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism [C-TPAT] is no longer a
prerequisite for importers and their brokers who want to establish an
account in the Automated Commercial Environment or participate in further
development tests of the new automated system for processing trade data,
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said.
CBP officials first
disclosed in January during the Customs Trade Symposium their intent to
open the periodic monthly payment system to all importers by removing the
C-TPAT requirement. Access to ACE was held out as a benefit for importers
for joining C-TPAT and taking steps to follow best practices for securing
their supply chains. C-TPAT participation was never a requirement for
carriers who filed commercial shipping data through ACE.
Customs officials said
the change was made because they want to encourage more importers to use
ACE, which is designed to streamline communications between the trade and
U.S. government agencies, and enhance border security.
CBP said it wants to
get as many companies involved with ACE now so that the system works
smoothly when the current computer system is eventually phased out and ACE
becomes mandatory. Import and export entries are processed through the
legacy computer on a transaction basis and all fees must be paid within 10
days after the goods are released by Customs. ACE marks a significant
change in business because importers, brokers and carriers are billed and
can pay duties, taxes and fees on a monthly basis.
Stricter C-TPAT to offer
prompt clearance
January
14, 2005
Importers that adhere to the very best security
practices will get long-promised expedited clearance for their cargo
before the end of the year, according to Robert C. Bonner, Commissioner of
Customs and Border Protection.
Bonner told reporters...that his agency plans to take its Customs-Trade
Partnership Against Terrorism to a higher level by offering what he called
"C-TPAT-Plus" companies that have gone beyond the minimal requirements for
the anti-terror program immediate clearance of cargo on arrival in the
U.S.
Bonner was the keynote speaker at the agency's fifth trade symposium.
"My vision is to provide them this year with the "green lane", and that
means no inspections upon arrival, immediate release, because we have
validated that they in fact are using the best supply-chain practices," Bonner said.
Those practices include validated supply-chain security from the point of
origin at a foreign manufacturer; the use of a "smart" container equipped
with high-security seal and internal sensors to detect tampering, and
shipment through a port.... that participates in Customs' Container
Security Initiative.
Those steps "sufficiently removes the risk, that we are better off
devoting our inspectional resources to non-C-TPAT shipments or less secure
shipments," Bonner said. He declined to predict how many containers may
get the green lane treatment by the end of the year. Importers may still
have containers stopped for random inspections, or if there is tactical
intelligence that a container should be inspected.
Participants in C-TPAT generally may expect to meet more demanding
"security criteria," although Bonner avoided calling them standards. The
agency released a new C-TPAT Strategy, which has been derived in part from
the draft standards that Customs began circulating among industry leaders
last October.
However, Bonner said that the C-TPAT benefits will increase along with the
government's expectations. He said a C-TPAT company is six times less
likely to have its cargo stopped for security, and four times less likely
to be inspected for trade-compliance reasons than a non-C-TPAT company.
Bonner said Customs will issue C-TPAT "annual statements" to
participants to show financially how companies have benefited from the
program.
This article was extracted from
the January 13, 2005 Edition of "The Journal of Commerce".
SCAC Code Problem
February
17, 2005
The National Motor Freight Transportation Association (NMFTA) who provides
U.S. Customs with the SCAC carrier database decided to purge from the
approved SCAC database, any and all carriers who have not paid their
annual fee. This resulted in many carriers' SCAC codes being deactivated
and held up shipments at the border.
This, of
course, caused major problems for carriers and brokers nationwide.
The
database has been "unpurged" and all previously approved SCAC Codes should
be working again.
Customs has informed us that the NMFTA will be purging their
system again in the very near future but will be giving the importing
community a warning before they do it. Please inform carriers, that to avoid having their SCAC deactivated (when
this purge finally happens), they need to renew their SCAC by paying their
annual fee to the NMFTA.
This can be done at
www.nmfta.org.
Advance Electronic Cargo FAQ-
Updated Jan 28, 2005
January
28, 2005
U.S. CBP Initiative under the Trade Act 2002:
Frequently Asked Questions about Advance Cargo
Reporting can be found here:
Questions 9, 20 and 22 have been updated
U.S. to reinstate Seaway tolls,
09 Feb 2005, JOC
The Bush
Administration plans to restore tolls on the St. Lawrence Seaway starting
next year, two decades after Congress dropped the charges.
The fiscal 2006 budget
proposals President Bush sent to Congress this week seeks authority for
the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. to collect tolls as part of a
plan to wean the agency from federal funding.
The budget proposal
calls for $16,284,000 for the agency in 2006, up $577,000 from fiscal 2005
allocation. The office is currently funded through the Harbor Maintenance
Tax on imports. This would change in 2006, with about $8 million coming
from tolls and $8 million from appropriations.
"The budget request
would have our corporation start collecting tolls and over time go back to
being fully self-sufficient, based on tolls and, marginally, some other
fees such as tolls on pleasure craft," [said] Albert Jacquez, U.S. Seaway
administrator.
Canada and the United
States together charged tolls when the Seaway opened in 1959….
Congress dropped the
tolls in 1987 in a bid to spur more shipping through the Seaway. Canada's
St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. retained its tolls. It is a
government-owned but private sector-operated commercial entity forbidden
by law from receiving government funding. It charges tolls on ships and
cargo for the Montreal-Lake Ontario section of five Canadian and two U.S.
locks and on the Welland Canal section of eight locks.
Jacquez said there was
no intention of moving the U.S. agency out of the Department of Transport
as a "commercialized" agency, like its Canadian counterpart.
The American tolls
would match those of Canada, reached, as before, by negotiation between
the two Seaway administrations. The Canadian agency has a business plan
permitting it to increase the tolls by 2 percent a year, as it last did in
2004.
Trucking facing capacity crunch again, 09
Feb 2005, JOC
NORWALK, Calif. -- The
long-haul trucking industry could again find itself short of capacity
during the peak-shipping season this year, a trucking executive said.
Truckers suffered a
severe capacity crunch in 2004, particularly at West Coast ports (schedules)
where the volume of import shipments rise to almost three times that of
exports during the summer and fall, creating equipment imbalances
throughout the transportation network. Those problems could resurface as
early as spring, said Stephen Russell, chief executive of the Celadon
Group, in an address to the Los Angeles Transportation Club.
U.S. truckload
capacity has dropped 20 percent over the past four years, due largely to
an industrywide driver shortage, Russell said. Harbor drayage is also
hurting. Independent drivers who are paid by the load are shunning long
lines at congested terminals that have made it difficult for them to pay
for rising fuel costs and health benefits.
While long-haul
drivers are paid by the mile, receive benefits and earn an average of
$48,000 a year, long trips away from home and related issues are forcing
carriers to find new ways to put the brakes on employee turnover that
averages about 125 percent annually.
Russell said Celadon,
based in Indianapolis, has one of the better retention rates in the
industry, with 79 percent annual turnover.
Celadon pays drivers a
$1,000 bonus for every 3,000 miles driven. Russell also said the company
pays its driver promptly, ensuring them that if they turn in their
paperwork by Tuesday, they will be paid for the entire period on Thursday.
It also pays for standby time if a driver waits more than two hours for a
trailer to be unloaded.
Even with these
incentives, it is difficult to prevent turnover in long-haul trucking. "No
one is growing," Russell said. When a motor carrier buys a competitor that
is going out of business, it is usually to acquire the drivers rather than
the trucks."
|
