CANADIAN SHIPPERS SEEK EXEMPTION TO MANIFEST RULE

CANADIAN SHIPPERS SEEK EXEMPTION TO MANIFEST RULE    Canadian shippers and non-vessel-operating common carriers want non-U.S.-bound exports to be exempt from U.S. Customs’ new advance manifest regulations.
   Effective Dec. 2, U.S. Customs requires vessel operator and NVO manifests to be filed to the agency 24-hour prior to loading overseas. Included in this regulation is freight remaining on board (FROB), or non-U.S.-bound cargo that’s loaded on vessels in Canada that make stops in U.S. ports during their voyages overseas.
   “The 24-hour FROB rule thus subjects all Canadian exports loaded at Canadian ports to be declared to U.S. Customs 24 hours before they are loaded, regardless of their country of destination,” said H.J. (George) Kuhn, executive director of the Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association in a Dec. 13 letter to John Manley, Canada’s deputy prime minister; William Graham, minister of foreign affairs; and Pierre Pettigrew, minister of international trade.
   Receiving copies of the letter were also Canada Customs, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, Canadian Shippers Council, Canadian Association of Importers & Exporters, Canadian Industrial Transportation Association, Canadian Chemical Producers’ Association, Canadian Sea Trade Association, and Canadian Pork International.
   Kuhn said the rule has “serious implications for Canada’s trade.”
   He cited in his letter that U.S. manifest information is compiled and marketed by private-sector reporting services, such as PIERS. “Sensitive and detailed commercial information about Canada’s overseas exports will become public knowledge, not only to competitors within Canada but also to those in the United States and abroad,” Kuhn said.
   Canadian shippers and NVOs are also entitled to ship to some countries that are embargoed by the United States, such as Cuba, Libya, Iran, Sudan, Yemen and North Korea. “U.S. authorities will know detailed commercial information about these shipments with the possibility that shipments, which the government of Canada has authorized for export, may be seized upon arrival of the vessel at U.S. ports,” Kuhn said.
   U.S. Customs has insisted that an important part of its so-called Container Security Initiative is receiving cargo manifests far enough advance to properly screen high-risk containers before they are loaded onto U.S.-bound vessels. Companies that fail to comply with the regulation face penalties of $5,000 for the first violation and $10,000 thereafter against the carrier, including Canada’s NVOs.
   “While we recognize that the United States has, as does Canada, a right to know what is on board a ship calling at its ports, we cannot agree that non-U.S. related, third country trade information should be available to private interests through public disclosure in the United States,” Kuhn said.
   “However, as that is enshrined in the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and in Title 19 of the U.S. Code, we believe the only way to protect Canada’s confidential export trade information is to have manifest information of Canadian origin cargo exempted from the 24-hour manifest rule,” he said.
   The Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association has asked the Canadian government to take action before Feb. 1, which is the end of the U.S. Customs grace period before issuing penalties for non-fraudulent manifest errors. Alternatively, the association said implementation of the 24-hour rule as it applies to FROB should be postponed until the Canadian and U.S. governments address the issue.