July 20, 2007
DISTRIBUTION TO: All Interested Trade Partners
SUBJECT: ACE eManifest/Trade Act Enforcement
Plan
On February 23, 2007, U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) published a Federal Register Notice establishing the
mandatory use of ACE electronic Manifest (eManifest) at all land border
ports in Michigan and New York. This notice established May 24,
2007 as the effective date for establishment of ACE eManifest as the
approved data interchange for transmission of advance electronic cargo
information to CBP. Outreach materials are being distributed at
these ports until May 23, 2007 to act as a reminder of the effective
date. The purpose of this notice is to provide carriers and other
interested trade partners at the affected ports with the specific
information regarding enforcement actions they should expect CBP to take
beginning May 24, 2007 at the ports listed above.
These enforcement actions are based on the
implementing regulations of the Trade Act of 2002 for truck carriers
found in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 19, Part 123.92 (19 CFR
123.92). This regulation requires that advanced electronic cargo
information, in the form of an eManifest, be provided to CBP one hour
(thirty minutes for FAST) prior to the arrival of the conveyance in the
first U.S. port of arrival. This rule includes goods moving under
bond between U.S. ports of entry as well as goods moving in transit
through the U.S. The following shipments are currently exempt from
the advance electronic filing requirement for incoming cargo:
 | Cargo in transit from point to point in the United
States after transiting Canada or Mexico |
| Certain informal entries:
o Merchandise which may be informally entered on Customs Form (CF)
368 or 368A (cash collection or receipt);
o Merchandise unconditionally or conditionally free, not exceeding
$2,000 in value, eligible for entry on CF 7523
o Products of the United States being returned, for which entry is
prescribed on CF 3311. |
| The following shipment types are not specifically
exempted by the regulation but use of eManifest is not currently
required for:
o Merchandise that is subject to the provisions of 19 USC 1321 (Sec.
321 releases).
o Empty trucks and truck cabs.
o Shipments consisting solely of Instruments of International
Traffic eligible for release under 19 CFR 10.41(a).
o International mail shipments being shipped by a contract carrier
from a foreign postal service to the US Postal
Service.
o Carnets.
o A delivery ticket for movement to a CBP bonded warehouse or a CBP
214 admitting merchandise to a Foreign Trade Zone. |
All other shipments are required to
provide advance electronic cargo information via an eManifest including
personal effects using form CBP 3299.
Enforcement discretion will take
place in the following phases:
Phase 1
Beginning May 24, 2007, CBP will begin to exercise enforcement
discretion in the form of an informed compliance period of at least 60
days. This period may be extended based on system performance
issues and operational readiness. During this period CBP Officers
working in primary lanes will provide an informed compliance notice to
the driver of any conveyance that fails to meet the
requirement.
Phase 2
Beginning no earlier than July 23, 2007, CBP will deny a permit to
proceed into the U.S. to any carrier, required to submit an eManifest,
which arrives without submitting or attempting an e-Manifest. CBP
Officers may accept the ACE e-Manifest cover sheet as initial proof of
this attempt. Prior to the beginning of this phase, CBP Officers
will also be provided with a process they can use to check for
transmission attempts by carriers. Validation of e-Manifest
participation should ideally take place in a secondary inspection
environment.
Phase 3
Beginning no earlier than August 23, 2007 and continuing as ongoing
Trade Act enforcement, CBP will deny a permit to proceed into the U.S.
for any truck, required to submit an eManifest, that arrives at one of
the ports covered under this memorandum without first successfully
transmitting an e-Manifest for that trip. For egregious
violations, a monetary penalty ($5000 for the first offence and $10,000
for subsequent offences) may be issued to the driver in care of the
carrier under 19 USC 1436. Egregious violators are defined as
those carriers that make no attempt to comply with the
requirements.
Additional Phases
Once CBP achieves substantial compliance with the requirements to file
manifests, additional phases will be announced for enforcement of other
Trade Act elements including timeliness of submission, accuracy of data
and completeness of manifests.
Questions regarding this guidance may be directed to
your local CBP port.
