Concerns Mount Over Trade Readiness for May 30 FSVP Requirements, NCBFAA Says
Concern is deepening over “widespread misunderstanding and confusion” among importers about the Food and Drug Administration’s upcoming Foreign Supplier Verification Program requirements, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in a May 1 letter to FDA Director of Enforcement and Import Operations Doug Stearn. “Absent an interim ‘soft landing’ for FSVP entry data by the FDA, we fear disruption at the border for food shipments after May 30,” the date many importers must first begin complying with the new regulation (see 1602120038), the NCBFAA said.
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For food shipments with complex supply chains, identifying the FSVP importer that must be reported on entry documentation “is not a straightforward process, as we are discovering anew every day,” the letter said. “The FSVP importer is not just a name, address and DUNS number entered into a data field. It must be a knowledgeable and consenting party who understands the food safety evaluation and verification activities that the party is charged with performing. This information has not yet been understood to be an integral part of supply chain data to be made available at entry. We are confident that the information infrastructure will develop in time, but it is not there yet,” it said. Under the regulations, the “FSVP importer” is a U.S. party with a financial interest and control over the shipment, and may not be the same as the CBP importer of record (see 1511160014).
The letter references an earlier communication sent April 10 expressing “concern about the trade’s readiness to meet” FSVP requirements. The NCBFAA “has been conducting intense outreach to our members so they in turn can push their importer clients to develop this information for food shipments, it said. The letter requests a meeting between the NCBFAA and Stearn “this week or next to discuss this important issue.”
Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of the letter.