CBP Hopes to Launch Electronic Export Manifest by End of Year, Swanson Says

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- CBP hopes to have a fully functioning electronic export manifest system up and running by the end of year, said Jim Swanson, CBP director-cargo and security controls, at the Western Cargo Conference (WESCCON) on Oct. 11. Specifically, Swanson is eyeing a “November time frame” for the ocean, air and rail modes, with truck coming at a later date after CBP completes its work on rebuilding the inbound manifest system for that mode, he said.

The new system will rid the export manifest process of all paper requirements, including “electronic paper” in the document image system (DIS), Swanson said. Once it’s up and running, CBP will gather feedback and evaluate the data it receives, and look toward regulatory changes that will mandate export manifest. No regulations will be issued, however, until electronic export manifest is expanded into the truck mode, he said.

One benefit of electronic export manifest is that the manifest filing, as well as the departure message for the conveyance, will be considered proof of export by CBP, including for the purposes of cancellation of export bonds under 19 CFR 113.55, Swanson said. And CBP will also tie export manifest to import bills for in-bond shipments, so after the original bill is submitted as the export bill, along with the in-bond number, “it will automatically export that bill, so you will have electronic proof of export by linking that already existing transaction through on the export manifest,” Swanson said.

The Census Bureau will also likely be able to cut down on any duplicative data elements that it currently requires after export manifest is up and running, said Kiesha Downs, chief of the trade regulations branch at the Census Bureau. That won’t happen right away, but once export manifest is up and running and Census is able to examine the data it receives from CBP, it will evaluate any data elements that overlap between the Automated Export System and export manifest and potentially eliminate them, she said.

While ocean manifests will be due at least 24 hours prior to lading, air four hours before departure and rail two hours before reaching the border, in line with AES filing requirements, filers may want to submit their manifests well before that to obtain full benefits, Swanson said. By the time filing is required, the goods will likely be consolidated in a container, and costly and time consuming to examine should CBP choose to do so.

According to Swanson, export manifest is one of many export-focused initiatives CBP is working on to rationalize the export process. Among these is the nationalization of export procedures across the ports. One part of the requirements CBP is putting out to its officers in the field is procedures for gathering more data on a shipment without physically examining the cargo. “What we really want to do is appropriate levels of examination,” Swanson said. Gathering more information on a shipment may be as simple as getting a packing list or a copy of the invoice, he said.