CBP Preparing to Mandate Use of Electronic Export Manifest

CBP has begun drafting an announcement that will require shippers to use electronic export manifests (see 2003110038) for all ocean, air and rail shipments, said Jim Swanson, CBP’s director of the Cargo and Security Controls Division. While the agency doesn’t yet have a firm effective date, he said CBP is finally working on regulatory changes that would mandate those electronic filings and expects to issue Federal Register notices in “the next several months.”

“It's a long process, as many of you know, but we are going to mandate that that data be submitted to us for every shipment,” Swanson said during CBP’s Virtual Trade Week on July 21. He said there will be “no exemptions” and “everything needs to be reported to us on electronic manifest.” Swanson also stressed that the new requirements won’t eliminate the need for exporters to file in the Automated Export System.

The electronic export manifest filing requirements will include a new “departure notice,” Swanson said, which will serve as an “actual automated proof of export for every shipment” leaving the U.S. “That departure notice is going to be something that we have never really had in CBP before,” he said. Exporters will also benefit from a progressive filing model, Swanson added, which “means the lowest level bills can be submitted as soon as they're created, and then the additional transportation elements can then be added to that as they go forward.”

Swanson said more details will be released in the full version of CBP’s export modernization white paper, which he expects to become public “within a couple days.” CBP issued an abbreviated version of the paper in June (see 2106230056). “It's going to be a very exciting time in the export world going forward,” Swanson said. “We think we're going to create some real efficiencies here, and we're going to be able to better segment risk and get to the levels of efficiency we see across the board in terms of our ability to quickly move cargo and not stand in the way.”

Swanson added that the electronic export manifest won't initially be used for trucks, partly because CBP is still working through enforcement and infrastructure issues specific to truck transport. “We're not going to be able to build overnight or even in a short period of time -- nor do we think we really want to -- the same infrastructure we have for import, and face that in the opposite direction,” he said.

While CBP is looking to solve some of those enforcement issues through the use of automation and other technologies at the borders, Swanson also said the agency is hoping to work more closely with Canadian and Mexican agencies, including through export and import data sharing. He said CBP wants to “come up with a multinational, trilateral border truck manifest that will serve everybody’s needs.” But he said those discussions have been on hold for several years.

“We're hoping that we can reinvigorate those” discussions, Swanson said. “There seems to be some push that we're going to go in that direction. We hope that fairly soon we're going to begin those conversations with our partners in Mexico and Canada again.”

The Commerce Department's Census Bureau is working closely with CBP on these changes and is also considering its own regulatory revisions, including changes to some definitions in the Federal Trade Regulations, said Gerry Horner, supervisor of Census’ Trade Regulations Branch. Horner said the agency is considering changing the definition for “port of export,” which is defined by Census as “the port where the goods leave for the foreign country.” CBP’s definition also includes the port where the goods are loaded. “We have to make sure that when the port is used on a manifest, we are actually, at the Census Bureau, matching it up to the” correct definition, Horner said.

Horner also said Census is no closer to reaching a decision on whether to eliminate Electronic Export Information filing requirements for shipments to Puerto Rico. The agency proposed the change in September, but Horner said Census is still unsure whether it can use alternative data sources to compensate for all the information that would no longer be collected if the EEI requirements are nixed (see 2104230025 and 2106250021). “We still are discussing it internally,” he said. “Every opportunity we have … we try to provide more updates and information to the trade community on this.”