To keep the U.S. trade community informed during the Federal Government shutdown, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is holding weekly calls with the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA).

This week CBP made the following announcements to the NCBFAA:

Section 301 China Tariffs
- Per CSMS #18-000757, CBP will be unable to process Section 301 exclusions during the shutdown as the programmers have been furloughed.
- CBP will not accept post summary corrections (PSC’s) with the new 9903 HTS#’s.
- CBP will accept protests since they do not require a transmitted CF 7501 correction.
- CBP will issue entry guidance and implementation instructions after the shutdown concludes.
- Any updates to the Automated Customs Environment (ACE) will be implemented 10 business days after the shutdown concludes.
Cross Border Trucking (Canada/Mexico)
- Trucks carrying packages qualifying for Section 321 (low value) will still be required to file electronic manifests for loads up to 5000 lines.
- Trucks carrying packages qualifying for Section 321 (low value) with more than 5000 lines must file a paper manifest due to a programming glitch. CBP will allow for corrections after the shutdown.
Participating Government Agencies
- Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is funded.
- International Trade Commission (ITC) is furloughed so there will be no updates to the Harmonized Tariff System of the United States (HTSUS) site until the shutdown is over.
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is not funded, however, they have minimal staff available for trade and are serving the ports for clearances and pre-arrival approvals.
- CBP intends to conditionally release FDA and EPA cargo so that it can be moved out of the ports and held at the importer’s premises until the shutdown is over.
CBP Administration
- Fines Penalties and Forfeiture (FP&F) officers have not been furloughed.
- ACE Help Desk and ACE Accounts Service Desk are manned by contractors who are already funded.
- Trade Remedy and Entry Summary mailboxes will be monitored.
- Centers of Excellence and Expertise (CEE) are not furloughed, therefore CBP 28’s and 29’s will be issued, and questions will be responded to in a timely manner.
- All quota openings for January 2 are operating normally, including the Section 232 quotas for steel and aluminum.
- Binding rulings will not be released until after the shutdown.
- Drawback deployment is still scheduled to go into effect in February without delay.