Cargo Systems Messaging Service CSMS #41151809
Information on Bills Issued Prematurely for Some Informal Entries.
Due to the federal holiday on December 24, some informal entries were liquidated prematurely on December 25 with incorrect bill amounts. These bills will be cancelled, the entries will be re-liquidated, and any bills will be re-issued with the correct amounts.
The US-Japan Trade Agreement (“Agreement”) will enter into force on January 1, 2020. This message is to inform the trade community of the requirements for claiming preferential treatment under this new Agreement.
In order to receive preferential treatment, a good must be originating and meet all the requirements of the U.S.-Japan Agreement.
Annex II to the Agreement specifies the rules of origin used to determine if a good qualifies for preferential tariff treatment or “originates” under the Agreement. The product-specific rules (Annex II to the Agreement) specify the level of change of tariff classification that non-originating materials must undergo. General Note 36 will be added to the HTSUS and will include the requirements of the Agreement. The links to the US-Japan Trade Agreement text and related documents are below.
FILING INSTRUCTIONS:
To claim preferential tariff treatment under the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement, the following requirements must be met:
More details on US-Japan implementing instructions will be provided on
Dear Members of the CBFAA,
Please note updated contact information from FDA. Chicago and Illinois ports are under the jurisdiction of FDA Division of Northern Border Imports. Please see the PGA folder on this website for the complete list of Northern Border FDA Port Offices which comprise the states of ID, IL, IN, MI, ME, MN, MT and ND.
, Director, Investigations Branch (West)
Vacant, Director, Compliance Branch (West)
Compliance Branch: If you need to contact the monitoring Compliance Officer, please use the specific contact information provided on your FDA Notice of Action.
Entry documents and electronic private laboratory analytical packages can be submitted using the Import Trade Auxiliary Communication System (ITACS) at https://itacs.fda.gov.
Electronic private laboratory analytical packages may also be submitted via email to the Compliance Officer listed on the FDA Notice of Action.
The status of an entry may be checked using the Import Trade Auxiliary Communication System (ITACS) at https://itacs.fda.gov.
Division of Northern Border Imports
Division Management Overview
Sandra K. Sylvester, Acting Division Director
Vacant, Director, Investigations Branch (East)
Sherea Dillon, Director, Compliance Branch (East)
Eric Joneson
Hello, Dear Members –
Several of the Board members attended Mary Aikens’ retirement luncheon at CBP’s office earlier this week on Tuesday, March 21st. Those of you who attended our Holiday Party 2016 recall that we honored Mary with the Gene Nikliborc Outstanding Service Award.
At the luncheon, it was our great pleasure to honor Mary with an engraved world clock to commemorate the award. Mary started her career in 1975 at headquarters and then moved to Chicago in 1977, where she served as an inspector in both Cargo and Passenger Processing. In January of 1989, she left the uniformed job and transferred to the Port of Chicago District office, where she served the next 13 years as Deputy Entry Officer. In 2002, Mary became Chief Entry Officer and served in this role until her retirement very soon.
We are honored to have experience Mary’s service, knowledge and friendship over the years and wish her the best in a relaxing retirement!
Happy Spring to All!
Jane Sorensen
On Tuesday, March 1st, the NCBFAA released a Monday Morning eBriefing newsletter, which focused on the recent statement that was made by the United States Coast Guard (USCG).
According to the NCBFAA eBriefing, the USCG took a moment to clarify its position on the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the new carrier guidelines that require the exporter that is listed on carrier’s master bill of lading to provide a certification of the Verified Gross Mass (VGM) of any container (including the tare weight of the container) tendered to the vessel operators.
There is no need to change processes
Admiral Paul Thomas of the USCG advised that the Coast Guard would need to implement the IMO’s changes through an appropriate regulatory rulemaking, before the IMO can compel the U.S. shippers and carriers to change their current business practices.
It was said that current ly the USCG feels that today’s process are working as long as both the shipper and carrier has done their job properly. Since there is nothing deficient or inherently unsafe about existing export processes, the Coast Guard feels that there is no need to change processes and will not do anything to enforce the new VGM rules on either the U.S. shippers or carriers .
It is assumed that the carriers will not accept this and will continue to push U.S. exporters and OTIs to still provide a VGM certificate. This will be monitored carefully by the NCBFAA.
AESDirect has been moved to the ACE portal. At this time, you can still access the AES Direct; however, it is the intent for CBP/ Census to move the login and password to ACE Portal.
It is just a matter of getting everyone signed on with a new password and login. You may ask, “Why do we need to be on the ACE Portal, if we already link with AES through our software system?”. You can file AES through the ACE Portal, if your system goes down. The AESDirect via ACE Portal is a good back up for this purpose. The sign up process takes a few days, so if you do not prepare in advance you will not be able to process AES through the ACE Portal. When you are singed up, please note that the ACE Portal works best in Explorer. Firefox and Chrome work for the first screens, but anytime you want to drill into the system you will stop having functionality.
If you are a freight forwarder, the AES direct is located via the Exporter pull down view. Then, go to Submit AESDirect Filings. I recommend to send an EEI in the AESDirect in order to test that you know the process.
Once you are in the system you will find the program is user friendly.
