CBP Increasing Use of Manifest Holds for Late ISFs
CBP is telling the trade community it will put manifest holds on any cargo at the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach that does not have an Importer Security Filing (ISF) 48 hours before arrival, according to alerts sent out by A.N. Deringer (here) and OHL (here), among others. The new "enforcement posture" was effective Jan. 20, CBP told the Los Angeles Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association (here). The ISF program requires advance cargo information submission to CBP within 24 hours before the cargo is loaded onto an ocean vessel going to the U.S. CBP begin increasing ISF enforcement efforts in July (see 13062613) and discussed the increased use of manifest holds by CBP's Los Angeles/Long Beach field office in October (see 13100810).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
Once an ISF is filed on cargo held due to a missing ISF, CBP will review the hold 72 hours or more after vessel arrival to see if they match, the companies said. After the ISF is matched to the manifest, CBP will do its review for possible exam to see if the ISF information submitted warrants additional enforcement actions, "including Non-Intrusive Inspection (NII) and/or a warehouse examination." The agency "will continue to follow these procedures to allow for the move of containers with consolidated cargo on ISF hold on any particular house bill of lading to its designated Container Freight Station (CFS) once a hold on the offending house bill(s) of lading has been coordinated with the CFS," said OHL.
CBP will also give guidance to ports to issue liquidated damage claims within about six months of the violation, otherwise it will be "understood no claim should forthcoming," according to a presentation from CBP, the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America and Avalon Risk Management. Though, "this does not absolve CBP of its rights to issue claims" up to six years following the violations, it said. CBP is "still reviewing running a query in ACE to know if an ISF is late on a real-time basis," the presentation said.