CBP's FAQ on Mandatory Advance Electronic Information Requirements for Inbound Air Cargo

(Although the actual title of this FAQ is "Air Automated Manifest System Frequently Asked Questions," it is listed on CBP's Web site as "Air FAQs on the Trade Act of 2002 - Mandatory Advanced Electronic Cargo Information.")

This is Part VII of a multi-part series of summaries on this FAQ, and highlights FAQs 19 and 20. See future issues of ITT for additional summaries.

FAQ 19 - Air AMS Problem Resolution

Freight status notification not received. CBP states that if an Air Automated Manifest System (AMS) participant has not received an expected freight status notification that results from the filing of any entry, the Air AMS participant and the entry filer should compare information to determine if the air waybill record and flight record information filed by each of the parties match. According to CBP, the most common reason that Air AMS does not reconcile entry information with the Air AMS air waybill record is that the record has been incorrectly transmitted by one of the parties.

Freight Status Query. CBP states that Air AMS has a feature called the Freight Status Query (FSQ), which allows an Air AMS participant to request routing information, current record status, the nominated agent information and the retransmission of freight status notification messages. CBP encourages Air AMS participants to use the FSQ message to determine the reason that expected messages have not been received.

Contacting CBP at the local port. If the Air AMS participant has done everything possible to resolve the problem but has not been successful, CBP states that the participant should contact CBP at the local port to determine why the expected freight notification message has not been received.

CBP release without electronic authorization. If the Air AMS participant and CBP cannot resolve the reason for the failure of Air AMS to process or transmit information related to an air waybill record, CBP indicates that it may authorize release of the cargo without electronic authorization in accordance with local CBP policy.

CBP explains that an assigned client representative may provide technical guidance to an Air AMS participant regarding the performance of the system. However, the client representative cannot transmit freight status notification (FSN) messages or authorize release of the cargo without electronic authorization. Such requests must be directed to CBP at the local port.

FAQ 20 - Scheduled Air AMS Downtime

Scheduled downtime. CBP states that the regularly scheduled downtime for Air AMS includes:

Saturday 0500 - 0700 EST

Saturday 2300 - Sunday 0300 EST

Sunday 2200 - Monday 0200 EST

Wednesday 0500 - 0700 EST

Information sent during scheduled downtime. According to CBP, if an Air AMS participant transmits information during the scheduled downtime period, the information sent is stored in a queue and is received and processed when the system maintenance and updates have been completed.

CBP states that it informs Air AMS participants of the scheduled Air AMS downtime so that such participants may transmit the information sufficiently in advance so that CBP may receive the information in the required time frames. CBP notes that it will not make allowances for the untimely submission of Air AMS information because of scheduled downtime.

Unscheduled/unanticipated downtime. According to CBP, unscheduled or unanticipated Air AMS downtime is rare and is generally for a short duration. However, in the event that the CBP system is unexpectedly down, CBP states that it will grant "credit" to the Air AMS participant for the amount of time the system is down. An Air AMS participant must contact CBP if expected freight status notifications are not received for a period of 2 hours. CBP adds that during this time, the Air AMS participant should troubleshoot its own operations or that of its service provider/software vendor to ensure that its own systems are working properly.

To determine if Air AMS is experiencing an unscheduled downtime, CBP states that the Air AMS participant may contact the CBP help desk at (703) 921-6000, which is a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week operation.

(See ITT's Online Archives or 04/08/04, 04/16/04, 04/19/04, 04/20/04, 04/21/04, and 04/22/04 news, 04040805, 04041605, 04041915, 04042010, 04042115, and 04042230, for Parts I-VI of this series of summaries on this FAQ.)

CBP's air cargo FAQ (dated 04/01/04) available at http://www.cbp.gov/ImageCache/cgov/content/import/communications_5fto_5ftrade/mandatory_5fadvanced_5felectronics/air_5ffaq_5fcargo_2edoc/v1/air_5ffaq_5fcargo.doc