- Who should be eligible to transmit the security filing?
- How should the security filing be made?
- What are the specific data elements to be included in the security filing?
INT’L FF & NVOCC SPECIAL - Trade facilitators wrestle with data filing challenge
By Paul Scott Abbott, AJOTIncreased advance data filing requirements and the impacts of dynamic trade growth are among issues with which US trade facilitators expect to grapple next month when the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America holds its 33rd annual conference in Chandler, AZ.
For customs brokers in particular, concerns surround US Customs & Border Protection’s planned implementation of a program to require advance filings of a dozen additional data elements for shipments heading to US ports. The program is commonly referred to as “Ten Plus Two” or simply “10+2.”
Longtime NCBFAA leader Peter H. Powell Sr. noted that association officials have been working with CBP counterparts for some four years in hopes that expanded data requirements will provide more benefits than burdens.
“It’s going to be proof in the pudding when it really starts,” said Powell, chief executive officer of C.H. Powell Co. in Westwood, MA, who served as NCBFAA president from 1998 through 2002 and thereafter as association chairman.
Implementation of 10+2 is anticipated to occur in the Fall, after conclusion of comment and rulemaking procedures.
Speaking on Jan. 29 at the American Association of Exporters and Imports’ (AAEI) Winter Conference & Expo in New Orleans, US Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Dr. Richard C. Barth said 10+2 should provide benefits for all, including facilitating a more secure supply chain, without imposing undue burdens.
Nonetheless, skepticism and uncertainty abound in the trade facilitation community when it comes to 10+2.
Robert Coleman, chief executive officer and president of TLR-Total Logistics Resource Inc. in Portland, OR, a NCBFAA director and Freight Forwarder Committee member, noted that 10+2 is still in draft proposal form, “so specifics have not been established and there are a lot of questions.”
Those questions, according to Coleman, include: