CBP Gives Line Release/BRASS Participants Additional 30-Day Enforcement Delay for Lacey Act Declaration
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has revised its guidance on how it will enforce the Lacey Act Declaration requirement for covered plants and plant products. The revision delays enforcement of the declaration requirement for Automated Line Release (ALR)/Border Release Advance Screening and Selectivity (BRASS) program participants another 30 days, until June 1, 2009.
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The revised guidance states that:
"Acceptance of electronic submission of the required data elements began April 1, 2009. As previously published, enforcement of the data collection requirement will begin on May 1, 2009 for those importers not currently participating in an expedited border release program. The 30-day delay of enforcement has allowed the government time to formulate a plan for integrating the Lacey declaration requirement into CBP's expedited border release programs, Automated Line Release (ALR) or Border Release Advance Screening and Selectivity (BRASS).
For current ALR/BRASS participants an additional one month delay of enforcement, until June 1, 2009, will be given to implement the plan presented below."
(In February 2009, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service published a revised, phased-in enforcement plan for the Lacey Act declaration. Under this plan, the first phase of enforcement would have begun on April 1, 2009 for certain headings of HTS Chapter 44. However, CBP and the trade needed more time to make adjustments to ALR/BRASS, and enforcement of the declaration requirement for HTS Chapter 44 was delayed until May 1. CBP now has further delayed enforcement of the declaration for ALR/BRASS participants (only) until June 1, 2009. Note that acceptance of the electronic declaration began on April 1 as scheduled.)
(See ITT's Online Archives or 05/01/09 news, 09050105, for earlier BP summary of CBP's guidance.)
CBP revised guidance (dated 05/05/09) available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/trade_programs/entry_summary/laws/food_energy/amended_lacey_act/guidance_lacey_act.xml