CBP Nearing Completion of EEM Rules for Air, Vessel, Rail

CBP is making progress on rules to eventually mandate electronic export manifest (EEM) for air, vessel and rail cargo and is still on track to deploy a truck EEM portal later this year, the agency said ahead of the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee’s June 26 meeting. COAC also issued one recommendation related to accelerated payments for certain drawback entries.

CBP said its Cargo and Conveyance Security office has completed two long-awaited notices of proposed rulemakings for air and vessel EEM. Both those notices are under CBP review, the agency said, and another NPRM for rail EEM is “now under Department-level review.”

The update comes after the advisory committee in December urged CBP to roll out EEM within the next COAC term 2312050026). CBP has been working for years to increase industry participation in the EEM pilot ahead of its full launch (see 2209150014 and 2110180038), and it recently published a paper to outline the benefits for shippers and others who do participate (see 2310200007).

The agency said Census Bureau’s preliminary data analysis of rail and vessel EEM data has since “shown positive impacts,” and “based on initial results EEM data would serve to improve the Electronic Export Information (EEI) filing.” CBP is also expecting EEM to “improve the penalty issuance process.”

CBP also said it’s continuing to develop a Truck EEM portal with a “tentative scheduled deployment” in the fall (see 2402270036). EEM for truck lags behind the other transportation modes, partly because the U.S. is trying to align its manifest with Mexico and Canada, an effort that's taking more time (see 2207290035 and 2312050026).

The COAC’s Export Modernization Working Group also recommended that each type 47 drawback entry with “accelerated payment” can only be transmitted and accepted error-free in ACE “if the total duties, taxes, and fees claimed for the drawback entry are greater than or equal to $1,000.” The working group said all drawback entries under $1,000 “can be transmitted into ACE but will only be paid upon liquidation, without accelerated payment.”