NMFS Proposes Consolidation of Seafood Trade Permit Procedures in ACE, New Permit for Tuna

The National Marine Fisheries Service issued a proposed rule (here) on Dec. 29 that would consolidate existing import, export and re-export permits for filing in CBP’s Automated Commercial Environment. Under the proposal, currently separate permits and documentation for Antarctic Marine Living Resources (AMLR) and Highly Migratory Species International Trade Permit (HMS ITP) program would be filed in ACE under a single International Fisheries Trade Permit, via both data elements and scanned images. NMFS is also proposing to set new permit requirements for seafood products regulated under the Tuna Tracking and Verification Program (TTVP), also under the consolidated International Fisheries Trade Permit procedures. Comments on the proposal are due Feb. 29.

Affected seafood products would include specified commodities of tuna, swordfish, billfish, and shark fins under the HMS ITP program; Antarctic and Patagonian toothfish and other fishery products caught in the waters surrounding Antarctica under the AMLR program; and frozen and/or processed tuna products, as well as certain other fishery products under TTVP. NMFS hinted that ACE filing of the International Fisheries Trade Permit could be expanded in the future, with the proposed rule providing that the new permit and ACE requirements "may be incorporated by reference in other regulations pertaining to documentation and reporting of imports and/or exports."

To obtain the International Fisheries Trade Permit, U.S. importers, exporters, and re-exporters of seafood products covered under the TTVP, AMLR, and HMS ITP programs would electronically submit their application and fee for the IFTP via a website designated by NMFS, said the agency. Specific information and documentation required by each of the three programs would be submitted via ACE in the form of data elements and scanned images of documentation, it said. NMFS would provide detailed information on what to submit for each program in a compliance guide, and specify the required formats in CATAIR requirements and an ABI implementation guide jointly developed with CBP, it said.

The use of ACE would mean that importers, exporters and re-exporters would no longer have to provide NMFS with paper copies of trade documentation, though they would still need to maintain electronic or paper records at their place of business for two years after the transaction, said NMFS. Biweekly dealer reports and other documents not required for admissibility decisions would not be affected by the proposed rule, and would still have to be submitted to NMFS on paper.

Though the proposed rule would subject TTVP regulated seafood to new permit requirements, it would also allow for a reduced data set to be filed in ACE under certain circumstances. The reduced data set would be allowed for imports of frozen cooked tuna loins used in cannery operations and tuna products in airtight containers manufactured in American Samoa and imported into the United States or Puerto Rico that originated from the tuna receipts listed on those monthly reports, said NMFS. Some information for these products under TTVP is already submitted via monthly reports, said NMFS.

(Federal Register 12/29/15)