Three Major Customs Changes in 2015

Customs and Border Protection has a busy year in 2015; there are many new programs, new technology and additional initiatives they are rolling out to the trade. Here are three important Customs changes to keep in mind this year.

CBP is transitioning to ACE from ACS.

CBP continues to progress with the plan to develop all core trade processing capabilities in ACE and decommission their legacy system by 2016.

Entry and Entry Summary filing will be mandatory by Nov. 1, 2015. CBP continues to work with their Partner Government Agencies, Customs Brokers and software providers to reduce the paper based interactions and to present one face of the Government at the border. Importers and Brokers who do not file in ACE by Nov. 1, 2015 will face delays in cargo processing and impact the release of their goods.

Brauner International’s software provider is already ACE certified and we will be ready to make the change when it happens later this year.

Importer Security Filing (ISF) Enforcement Underway.

As of May 13, 2015 US Customs has stated that the previous strategy of send warning letters or notifying importers has ended. The current enforcement policy will be left up to the Port Directors.

Port Directors may enforce at their discretion by placing the cargo on hold or issuing penalties. The focus will remain on “significantly late” filings as this negatively impacts CBP’s ability to asses risk and hold cargo.

ISF filings after arrival are always late and will be exposed to liquidated damages and cargo holds. CBP HQ will conduct analysis into non-compliant repeat violators (multiple ports).

CBP launches Broker Known Importer Program (BKIP).

The Broker Known Importer Program is a NCBFAA initiative accepted by US Customs. This program allows a Customs Broker to indicate to CBP that the importer is known to that Broker and that the Broker is aware that the importer understands their compliance responsibilities regarding customs regulations. The broker will indicate this on each entry for that importer. CBP will use this information to reduce the shipment risk profile in CBP risk segmentation. CBP will be getting information about importers from a licensed and trusted source.