CBP Officially Expands Export Manifest Document Image Pilot

August 22, 2012 by Tim Warren|Customs

CBP will begin expanding the pilot project to have export ocean manifests filed via e-mail into the Document Imaging System (DIS) in place of the physical paper document being presented at the port, Customs said in a Aug. 21 CSMS message. The paper manifest for those pilot participants will be submitted via a readable PDF attachment to an e-mail. The initial phase of the pilot began in the Atlanta field office and includes the ports of Norfolk, Newport News, Wilmington, Beaufort, Morehead City, Georgetown, Charleston, Savannah and Brunswick. The full CBP notice is (here).

The expansion will take place as follows:

August 20 -- Florida and all Gulf Coast ports to Brownsville, Texas, and Puerto Rico
September 4 -- All East Coast ports and Buffalo, Chicago and Detroit
September 17 -- All West Coasts ports including Alaska and Hawaii
Current pilot participants may immediately begin filing export ocean manifests via e-mail into DIS at all Florida, Puerto Rico and Gulf Coast ports to Brownsville, Texas.

Requirements for participation

Pilot participants will submit a readable PDF copy of the paper export manifest via email to CBP;
The e-mail must contain key manifest data elements in the subject line and body of the e-mail (the key data elements are needed for the system to save, search and process the document).

Pilot participants won't be required to present a paper copy of their CBP Form 1302A and/or their paper Bill of Ladings (BOLs) to the ports listed above during the pilot. This pilot is an interim step to the full development of an electronic export manifest that will replace the current paper process, said CBP. This process should help to alleviate some of the cost (printing, mailing, couriering, etc) associated with the presentation of the paper export manifest to CBP for the trade, the agency said.

(See ITT's Online Archives 12040548 for a full summary of the initial test notice. See ITT's Online Archives 12041017 for a summary of the DIS implementation guide. See ITT's Online Archives 12071904 for summary of CBP's Cindy Allen discussing the pilot's expansion.)