NMFS Announces ACE Pilot of PGA Message Set for High-Risk Seafood Imports
The National Marine Fisheries Service announced the beginning of an ACE pilot to test filing of data required under the Seafood Import Monitoring Program for high-risk seafood. The pilot, which “will commence after” Oct. 1 and run until further notice, will be open to all customs brokers and importer self-filers for all commodities and all modes of transportation, NMFS said. Electronic filing of SIMP data is mandatory for certain high-risk species beginning on Jan. 1, 2018.
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Under the pilot, filers will use the NMFS Partner Government Agency (PGA) message set to transmit data required by the SIMP regulations, issued in December 2016 (see 1612080014). Once the program is mandatory, importers of Atlantic and Pacific cod, blue and red king crab, dolphinfish (mahi mahi), grouper, red snapper, sea cucumber, sharks, swordfish, and albacore, bigeye, bluefin, skipjack and yellowfin tuna will be required to obtain an International Fisheries Trade Permit. Filers will have to transmit information on the harvester or producer, the fish, the place of harvest and landing and the importer’s IFTP number. NMFS intends to eventually apply the requirements to shrimp and abalone as well.
Filers that wish to participate should contact their client representative or, if they don’t have one, should submit an email to John Handy at John.Handy@dhs.gov with the subject heading “NMFS SIMP FRN-Request to Participate.” Prospective participants must provide CBP their Automated Broker Interface (ABI) filer code and the ports at which they are interested in filing the appropriate PGA data set. Requests to participate will be accepted “throughout the duration of the test,” CBP said.
(Federal Register 10/04/17)