L.A.-Long Beach CBP office: Paperless PTs by Nov. 13

L.A.-Long Beach CBP office: Paperless PTs by Nov. 13    U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it will discontinue the practice of issuing paper copies of permits to transfer to the trade community for containers designated for CBP examinations at any Centralized Examination Station (CES) in Southern California.
   The Automated Manifest System (AMS) is the official means of issuing notification of approval for movement of containers to the CES for CBP examination, the agency said in a notice.
   “It is the responsibility of the trade community to implement procedures in order to view messages and process cargo indicators relating to the movement of bonded freight under a permit to transfer,” CBP said in the notice.
   The 24-Hour Advanced Manifest Rule was established in December 2002, mandating the use of AMS to submit timely and accurate cargo declarations to CBP 24 hours prior to loading respective shipments onboard vessels at foreign ports, destined for the United States.
   CBP said it is continuing efforts to automate cargo-processing procedures at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
   “The practice of providing manual paper copies of permits to transfer (PTs) for containers selected for further examination at any of the CES facilities will be discontinued,” CBP said. “Effective Nov. 13, the practice of providing carriers and terminals with paper PTs for CBP examinations at a CES will cease.
   “For example, if an enforcement examination is required, instructions directing the release of the container for transport to the enforcement CES will be annotated by the AMS disposition code ‘1H’ and the cargo indicator ‘ENFCES’ on the first line in the public remarks section. The second line in the message will reference the name of the CES approved to receive the shipment.”