On Monday, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a new directive that said three new forms are eligible to be submitted through its Remote Location Filing (RLF) process in its hybrid version. While Customs intends RLF to be a completely electronic process, its current regulations provide an interim hybrid time to allow Customs to review government agency documents alongside RLF data in its automated commercial platforms for verification and support purposes.
The new forms available for the RLF filing are the:
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) preapproval certificate,
- NOAA permit to import Antarctic marine living resources,
- NOAA form 370 which is the fisheries certificate of origin.
While these forms are added to the list of RLF-approved documents, ports have the ability to choose how the filer must provide them. This means companies must reach out to their destination ports to find out if the documents must be submitted electronically, faxed, or hand delivered to a specific location within the port.
When RLF submission is supported, companies typically need to reach out to the port ahead of submission to determine the proper procedure, contact person, and verification process.