Ahern promises phased ’10+2′ enforcement

Ahern promises phased æ10+2Æ enforcement

Ahern

   U.S. Customs and Border Protection will not use a heavy hand to enforce the Importer Security Filing when the agency lifts its moratorium on issuing penalties for the advance commercial data requirements early next year, Acting Commissioner Jayson Ahern assured more than 800 import-export professionals on Tuesday.
   The rule went into effect on Jan. 26 and CBP gave importers and their logistics service providers a year to adapt their systems and processes before beginning enforcement measures.
   Under ISF, importers must electronically submit 10 types of information identifying partners and locations responsible for moving a shipment via an ocean container from an overseas manufacturing site to a U.S. receiver — and do so 24 hours prior to vessel loading. Ocean carriers are to provide two sets of data related to their handling of the container.
   The import community has faced enormous challenges preparing for the ’10+2′ rule, most notably tracing back the information to various suppliers, investing in systems to collect the data earlier than ever before and transmitting it to CBP through an approved information pipeline.
   Ahern, in what is likely his final public address before retiring from CBP at the end of the year, reinforced comments by officials in recent months that the agency is not interested in tripping up companies for technical violations. Late or inaccurate information is potentially subject to a $5,000 fine per ISF transmission, including updates.
   ‘We will approach the implementation of ’10+2′ much the same as we did with the 24-hour manifest rule,’ he said at CBP’s annual Trade Symposium in Washington. ‘We will opt for informed compliance rather than strict enforcement. That means we will focus on obtaining compliance by communicating directly with you, issuing warning letters, increasing the number of examinations, and only if necessary, withholding cargo release.
   ‘We will use the least punitive enforcement measures necessary to promote compliance with the ’10+2′ requirements. We will be consistent and reasonable in the application of penalties.’
   One month ago, Thomas Winkowski, assistant commissioner for field operations, announced that CBP would clear all penalty decisions through headquarters to ensure that sanctions are not applied for minor clerical errors.
   In 2003, CBP began gradually enforcing a rule requiring ocean carriers and container consolidators to transmit advance manifest information 24-hours prior to vessel loading as part of the post-9/11 security strategy to detect terrorist threats hidden in sea containers. Initial efforts focused on getting the transportation providers to submit accurate and complete cargo descriptions through an automated system. Penalties for tardy manifests did not begin until several months after the rule went into effect. ISF is intended to take advance manifest data to another level of detail to improve risk assessments of cargo.
   The delayed enforcement during the past year has already served, in effect, as an informed compliance period for educating the private sector. But Ahern told reporters after the speech that the difficult compliance hurdle justifies an extended soft implementation.
   ‘We’re going to continue to work with companies that need a little more time, that need a little more help. If there’s somebody willfully disregarding the rule hoping it goes away or has no intention of complying, then we’re going to have to move the next phase of escalation,’ he said.
   ‘We’ll still leave a tad more time realizing it is a complex rule and the challenges are great. So if somebody needs more time or we need to work with them more directly, we will. But we need to make sure we’re dealing with a willing partner.’ ‘ Eric Kulisch