APHIS Lists Workarounds for FTZ Lacey Act Submissions; NAFTZ Seeks Similar Approach on TSCA

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will allow for several "interim" measures for filing electronic Lacey Act information in ACE for goods leaving Foreign Trade Zones, the agency said in a letter to the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones. The interim measures are necessary because the electronic CBP Form 214 (e214) system, used to provide data for Partner Government Agencies on goods admitted into an FTZ, won't be "fully integrated for PGA data until 2017," APHIS Administrator Kevin Shea said in a Sept. 7 letter to the NAFTZ. Entry/entry summaries for entry type 06 were required to be filed in ACE as of May 28, but the requirement won't be enforced until after Nov. 28 (see 1608190035).

The NAFTZ filed the letter from APHIS as part of its comments (here) to CBP on a proposal to change regulations for imports subject to the Toxic Substances Control Act (see 1609300031). "Recognizing that CBP's e214 system will not be fully functional until 2017, FTZ filers will have one of several interim options to submit Lacey Act declaration data on or after November 28," APHIS said to the NAFTZ. Among those options are submission through the type 06 entry in ACE or to select various disclaimers within ACE, APHIS said. Filers can select disclaimer option "C" to indicate the Lacey Act data was sent through the APHIS system, called the Lacey Act Web Governance System (LAWGS), it said. "In this scenario, Lacey Act program officials will generate/assign an 8-digit, unique identification number preceded by LAC (i.e., LACxxxxxxxx) to allow users to complete the 11-digit 'entry number' field in LAWGS. Filers should submit Lacey Act data through LAWGS when the corresponding e214 is filed and reference the 17-digit e214 number."

Another option is to use the disclaimer option "D" to show that Lacey Act data was sent on a paper form. Filers should only submit a hardcopy version as a "last resort, when the corresponding e214 is filed," APHIS said. Disclaim option "B" is another option, but only if the shipment is admitted in the FTZ before Nov. 28 and will be leaving the FTZ and enter U.S. commerce on or after that date, APHIS said. "Regardless of the declaration requirement option chosen, importers must ensure that plant and plant products are in compliance with all other provisions of the Lacey Act as amended in 2008," Shea said.

Within the NAFTZ's comments filing, the trade group asked CBP and the Environmental Protection Agency to use an approach similar to that of APHIS in the TSCA filing regulations. "EPA should work with CBP to attach the [Notice of Arrival] approval at the time of the e214 admission (instead of the Type 06 entry) when the e214 system is deployed in ACE in 2017," the NAFTZ said. "This modification could be accomplished by a message set that references a NOA approval number or by upload of the approved NOA in [Document Image System] DIS. Until such time that the e214 system is available in ACE with the NOA approval attached, the NAFTZ and its members respectfully request that CBP-EPA adopt similar 'interim' measures as outlined by APHIS in a recent letter to the NAFTZ," it said. "Such interim measures would offer a number of options to those FTZ users importing products subject to Negative TSCA certification until such time as the e214 development is completed, without disruption to their current zone operations."