NMFS Creates New Consolidated Seafood Permit for Filing in ACE

The National Marine Fisheries Service issued a final rule (here) that will consolidate existing import, export and re-export permits for filing in CBP’s Automated Commercial Environment. Under the new regulations, currently separate permits and documentation for the Antarctic Marine Living Resources (AMLR) and the Highly Migratory Species International Trade Permit (HMS ITP) programs must be filed in ACE under a single International Fisheries Trade Permit (IFTP), via both data elements and scanned images. Non-resident importers will have to go through a registered agent residing in the U.S. to obtain an IFTP. NMFS is also finalizing new permit requirements for seafood products regulated under the Tuna Tracking and Verification Program (TTVP), also under the consolidated IFTP procedures. The final rule takes effect Sept. 20.

Affected seafood products 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. In its Dec. 29 proposed rule (see 1512300015), NMFS hinted that ACE filing of the International Fisheries Trade Permit could be expanded in the future, with the proposal 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."

An IFTP will be required for all imports and exports of covered commodities, regardless of value, including for import shipments below $800 and export shipments below $2,500. Filing in ACE or the Automated Export System will also be required for these otherwise "de minimis" shipments, NMFS said.

To obtain the IFTP, U.S. importers, exporters and re-exporters of seafood products covered under the TTVP, AMLR and HMS ITP programs, and registered agents of non-resident importers, must electronically submit their applications and fees for the IFTP via a website designated by NMFS, the agency said. Specific information and documentation required by each of the three programs must be submitted via ACE in the form of data elements and scanned images of documentation, it said. Importers and exporters will have to maintain electronic or paper records at their places of business for two years after the transaction, NMFS said. Biweekly dealer reports and other documents not required for admissibility decisions would not be affected by the final rule, and would still have to be submitted to NMFS on paper.

Though the final rule subjects TTVP-regulated seafood, including frozen and processed tuna, to new permit requirements, it also allows for a reduced data set to be filed in ACE under certain circumstances. The reduced data set will 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 U.S. or Puerto Rico that originated from the tuna receipts listed on those monthly reports, NMFS said.

Despite calls from the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America to require submission of permit data elements at the time of entry summary, NMFS said requiring submission of data at the time of entry is "necessary to ensure only admissible products are permitted entry into the U.S. market," refusing to make the change. "Allowing data entry for these three programs after product has been admitted into the United States would make efforts to interdict problematic entries extremely difficult," it said. NMFS also resisted the trade group's calls to make the party with a financial interest in the shipment, not simply the CBP importer of record, responsible for getting the permit. "NMFS believes it is important for enforcement purposes that the importer of record, regardless of whether said importer has a direct financial interest in the imported goods, be the responsible party accountable in the event of a shipment entry problem," the agency said.

(Federal Register 08/03/16)