CBP Adds Ocean, International Mail to Section 321 Data Pilot
CBP will add some new components to its ongoing test of advance data collections for low-value entries that may be eligible for Section 321 exemptions, the agency said in a notice. “This notice announces that CBP is modifying the Section 321 Data Pilot to include shipments arriving by ocean and to include international mail shipments,” the agency said.
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Adding ocean shipments “will enable CBP to more effectively target or identify high-risk shipments by requiring additional data elements related to such shipments,” it said. “Such expansion will also enable CBP to test the feasibility of collecting advance data from typically non-regulated entities utilizing ocean transportation. It will also enable CBP to collect data regarding additional relevant shipments. Based on the initial operation of the pilot, CBP has learned that many e-commerce entities utilize all modes of transportation and that excluding ocean shipments from the pilot would exclude a substantial number of relevant shipments of potential participants.”
CBP also added international mail shipments because excluding them required pilot participants to separate data “relating to mail shipments from data relating to other section 321 shipments.” All “shipments destined for a Foreign Trade Zone continue to be excluded from the scope of the pilot,” it said. The agency also adjusted its penalties section for the pilot to clarify that providing false information can result in “civil and criminal penalties, administrative sanctions, liquidated damages or removal from participation.” CBP is also extending the pilot for another year, through August 2021. “The additional time is necessary in order for pilot participants to modify their communication systems in order to execute the provisions of the pilot and for CBP to collect a sufficient amount of data from the participants,” it said.
(Federal Register 12/09/19)