Length/Class Position Status Description Note Element Elected. 4AN O Filer s preferred Exam. CES location if Site (FIRMS)

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1 SE11, Elected Exam Site (FIRMS) Cargo Release It is our understanding that all FIRMS codes, including FTZ FIRMS codes, will be available in the programming, but that their use as Exam sites will be at the local port director s discretion. Please confirm that this is the correct understanding. Yes, CBP makes the determination of where bonded merchandise will be examined. However, the Optional data element Elected Exam Site (FIRMS) in the SE11 Record is expecting a selection of a CES site location for use if CBP determines that the merchandise is to be examined at a CES. There is a separate data element called Location of Goods which identifies where the bonded merchandise is located. This is an Optional data field in the ACE Cargo Release transaction data set and applies to all entry types. CBP does not always designate locally located bonded cargo be brought to a CES for examination. In the case of merchandise located in Customs Bonded Warehouses and Foreign- Trade Zones, CBP often goes to the bonded facility and conducts an examination there. A FTZ Site location FIRMS Code would not be appropriate information for this data field. There is a separate data element called Location of Goods which identifies where the bonded merchandise is located. If the shipment is designated for an Intensive Examination, and CBP determines that it is to be examined at a CES, then the FIRMS Code of a local CES is what CBP expects to be reported in this field. This data element was introduced in September 2013 with Draft Version 8 of the ACE Cargo Release Implementation Guide reads as follows: Record Identifier SE11 (Input) Data Length/Class Position Status Description Note Element Elected 4AN O Filer s preferred Exam CES location if Site (FIRMS) cargo needs to be examined. Draft Version 16 of the ACE Cargo Release Implementation Guide which is expected to be published to CBP.gov the week of 3/28/16, has enhanced text for this Optional data element and reads as follows:

2 Record Identifier SE11 (Input) Data Element Length/Class Position Status Description Note Elected Exam Site (FIRMS) 4AN O Filer s preferred Centralized Examination Station (CES) location. For use when CBP determines that a required Intensive Examination is to be conducted at a Centralized Examination Station (CES). As per CD , if there is more than one CES in the port of entry, the broker/filer specifies which CES location they wish used for the examination. If there is only one CES in the port of entry, no FIRMS Code needs to be submitted for this data element. This data element should be Space Filled if no FIRMS Code is being submitted. When there is more than one Centralized Examination Station (CES) in a port of entry, the broker/filer specifies their CES choice if the shipment comes up for a required Intensive Examination. Unless there are some security/interdiction issues involved or it is a matter of the availability of needed specialized equipment, CBP allows the broker/filer to designate which of the local CES facilities is to be used. For over 27 years the broker has printed this information in Block 29 of the hardcopy form as directed by CD CD [Dated May 6, 1988] Customs Form 3461, Entry/Immediate Delivery; Instructions for Preparation 29. BROKER/OTHER AGENCY USE The following items will be placed in Block 29 in this order: Examination Site The broker/importer must give the desired devanning or centralized exam site in case the shipment is subject to an intensive exam. If there is only one such site, this information is not required. (See CD 3270, January 5, 1987)

3 Brokerage software has generally provided input field(s) on the user screens as (for example) Comments, but nothing for this Block 29 had a place in the Legacy ACS Entry transaction to be transmitted. Going forward it is CBP s objective to not have a hardcopy CBP form used for ACE Cargo Release. This data element is provided in the ACE Cargo Release transaction data set to enable the filer to electronically submit the information in order to facilitate coordination between CBP and the broker filer when a physical examination of the shipment is required at a CES. SE41, Privileged FTZ Merchandise Filing Date Cargo Release It is our understanding that this is to be used when an HTS number (where privileged status has been elected) is not currently active. In circumstances where there are multiple FIFO layers, and multiple dates, it is permitted to only use the oldest date. Please confirm. Re: The statement In circumstances where there are multiple FIFO layers, and multiple dates, it is permitted to only use the oldest date. (Note: The following answer is for the ACE Cargo Release transaction only, and does not address the ACE Entry Summary requirements, nor requirements and mapping for the Certify from ACE Entry Summary to ACE Cargo Release.) The declaration of HTS Lines should follow CBP regulations and directives as far as providing data. In response to your specific question about multiple layers with multiple grant dates: There is not a need to report multiple HTS Lines on the ACE Cargo Release transaction solely to report the grant date for each layer. A single HTS Line is sufficient if all other HTS Line data remains identical, with a valid grant date, so the CBP system can avoid rejecting the transaction for an invalid HTS number. SE41, FTZ Line Item Quantity Cargo Release and Entry Summary It is our understanding that this unit of measure is determined at the option of the Zone Operator, based on the units of measure which are being utilized in their inventory control and record keeping systems (ICRS). It is recognized that this may be a quantity necessary to confirm zone removals against an operator s ICRS records. There may be several different units of measure for a number of different materials which all utilize the same HTS. Please confirm. That is correct. Intentionally there is not a unit of measure data element for the FTZ Line Item Quantity. This allows the most flexibility for the various types of businesses and operations that make use of a Foreign-Trade Zone (FTZ). This means that if the business manages their inventory control by grams, or barrels, or units, or meters; or, if they manage by cases with varying quantities of merchandise in different size cases, as well as packages containing a single piece of merchandise; or, if they have parts that they track by individual parts, they can report a quantity

4 on each HTS Line of type 06 Cargo Release (SE41 Record) and then match up the quantity with the FTZ Line Item Quantity reported on the corresponding HTS Line (41-Record of the AE) of the type 06 ACE Entry Summary. Please note that the reporting of FTZ Line Item Quantity is completely exclusive of the statutory requirement to report the appropriate statistical reporting quantity for the associated HTS number on the ACE Entry Summary. Even if the two required reporting quantity numbers are identical in their basis, both must be reported. 999 Cargo Release Line Items: It is our understanding that as of February 28, 2016, there will no longer be a line limit of 999 lines on Cargo Release, and that it will match the Entry Summary provision of 99,999 lines. The size of the tariff line number is only 3 characters. This limits the Cargo Release filing to 999 lines, which has been a significant burden to the trade for many years. It has been our understanding that it would match Entry Summary at the 99,999 lines in ACE. Please confirm. No specific date has been announced for expanding the HTS Line limit from 999 to 99,999 for the ACE Cargo Entry Summary. Yes, it is expected that at some point after the completion of the ACE Agile Development Plan Increment 13 both the ACE Entry Summary and the ACE Cargo Release transactions will allow the filing of 99,999 HTS Lines on filings of all entry types. At the present time, the data schema for ACE Cargo Release has Line Item Identifier (aka HTS Line Number) in the SE40 Record set at 3 characters in length. The position of this data element is also land-locked, meaning that the data elements which immediately preceding and immediately following the Line Item Identifier are not Filler spaces, but also make use of their full respective data element lengths. In order to accommodate the 5-character length required to report up to 99,999 HTS Lines and accommodate the data element in its current position in the SE40 record, one or more of the data elements which follow the Line Item Identifier would need to be shifted. Or, another possibility is to make the current Positions 5-7 a Filler (spaces) and move the Line Item Identifier to the end of the 80-character record in Positions 76-80, thereby shortening the optional Commercial Invoice Description from 70 characters to 65. Remote Location Filing: It is our understanding that Remote Location Filing (RLF) will not be available for 06 Weekly Entry Filing. It appears that CBP has added additional validations preventing weekly entry cargo release from RLF filing. Our understanding is that zones were going to be able to perform RLF filing once CBP transitioned to ACE. To be clear, if a zone certifies from summary and does not have weekly entry, then 06 entries will be accepted for RLF. But those filing a weekly 3461 followed by a weekly 7501 will be unable to utilize RLF. Please confirm. The current rules for Remote Location Filing require Certification from Entry Summary for Cargo Release, and apply to all entry types.

5 CBP has not implemented any additional validations or rules that prevent entry type 06 FTZ from being a Remote Location Filing (RLF) submission. In fact, it is only under ACE that this has been made possible for entry type 06 filings. It is the nature of Weekly Entry being an estimate of actual quantities and of merchandise sourcing that prevents the filer from certifying from entry summary for cargo release. Certifying from entry summary for cargo release is, of course, a mandatory requirement of RLF filing. The entry summary statutorily requires declaring true, accurate, and correct information. Logic dictates that the Importer of Record does not have true, accurate, and correct information at the time of filing the Weekly Entry. *(Appended 3/8/2016) Beginning in February 2016, CBP is enhancing the ability to file RLF in ACE by allowing for what is known as the two-part process. This means that both the Cargo Release and the Entry Summary will be able to be submitted as stand-alone transactions. The filer will still have the option to submit RLF as a one-part transaction. That is, submitting RLF as certify from summary remains an option. Once the two-part process is fully coded and deployed to the Production environment, the entry type 06 filing used to submit Weekly Entry may be filed RLF as a stand-alone Cargo Release filing; followed up at the end of the respective Zone Week with a stand-alone RLF entry summary filing.