Lacey Act Decs Still Required for Phase 6 Goods Oct. 1, Even if HTS Flags Not Ready, Official Says
Lacey Act declarations will be required in ACE for entries subject to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s sixth phase of enforcement beginning Oct. 1, even though tariff flags might not immediately be in place for the relevant subheadings, an APHIS official said during CBP’s biweekly call with ACE software developers on Sept. 30.
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CBP anticipates that it will start putting in flags on Oct. 1 for tariff provisions covered in the sixth phase of enforcement (see 2003300011), but the processes involved mean it could be after the weekend on Oct. 4 before the flags appear in filers’ queries, according to a CBP official.
Nonetheless, filers should still provide a Lacey Act declaration for goods subject to phase six. ACE will not reject entries for declarations on unflagged subheadings, the APHIS official said. “It is required of importers to declare these HTS codes starting Oct. 1,” she said, declining to answer a question about whether APHIS would take enforcement action for filings of phase six goods that don’t include declarations on Oct. 1 because of missing flags.