Reminder: Phased Enforcement of Mandatory e-Manifest: Truck for Advance Cargo Information Purposes Begins February 11, 2008 for Alaska

CBP sources have confirmed that Phase 1 for these ports is still scheduled to begin on February 11th.

Enforcement of e-Manifest: Truck for Advance Cargo Information to be Phased-in

CBP stated that e-Manifest: Truck enforcement discretion for advance cargo information purposes will take place in Alaska in the following phases:

Phase 1 - Informed Compliance (February 11, 2008).Beginning February 11, 2008, 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 - Denial of Permit if no ACE e-Manifest Attempt (April 11, 2008).Beginning no earlier than April 11, 2008, CBP will deny a permit to proceed into the U.S. to any carrier required to submit an e-Manifest which arrives without submitting or attempting to submit 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.

(This includes the requirement of a manifest for 19 USC 1321 (Section 321) mixed-loads, but not loads consisting solely of Section 321 eligible merchandise. See ITT's Online Archives or 08/16/07 news, 07081605, for details.)

Phase 3 - Denial of Permit if no ACE e-Manifest (May 11, 2008).Beginning no earlier than May 11, 2008 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 e-Manifest that arrives at one of the ports requiring mandatory use of the e-Manifest without first successfully transmitting an e-Manifest for that trip.

For egregious violations, a monetary penalty ($5,000 for the first offense and $10,000 for subsequent offenses) may be issued to the driver in care of the carrier under 19 USC 1436 (penalties for violations of arrival, reporting, entry, and clearance requirements). Egregious violators are defined as those carriers that make no attempt to comply with the requirements.

Additional phases for timeliness, accuracy, etc.Once CBP achieves substantial compliance with the requirements to file e-Manifests, additional phases will be announced for enforcement of other Trade Act elements including timeliness of submission, accuracy of data, and completeness of e-Manifests.

CBP states that questions regarding this notice may be directed to the local port.

(See ITT's Online Archives or 12/04/07 news, 07120405, for BP summary announcing the phased enforcement, which includes information on shipment types currently exempt from e-Manifest: Truck for advance cargo information purposes, shipment types not specifically exempted, but use of e-Manifest not required, and links to previous BP summaries regarding e-Manifest: Truck.)

CBP enforcement plan (dated 12/07/07) available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/toolbox/about/modernization/carrier_info/e-manifests_info/trade_act_enforce/emanifest_cluster7.xml

BP Note

CBP has also characterized this February 11th date as the day that nationwide implementation of mandatory e-Manifest: Truck filing occurs (as Alaska is the last scheduled state for e-Manifest: Truck implementation). (See ITT's Online Archives or 01/11/08 news, 08011140 4, for BP summary.)