Patented ~ Trademarked ~ Registered ~ Bonded ~ Insured

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Assess duties, collect statistics, and determine whether other requirements of law have been met. 

File shipment data prior to carrier notifying CBP of departure. 

 Drawback is the refund of certain duties, internal revenue taxes and certain fees collected upon the importation of goods and refunded when the merchandise is exported or destroyed. 

Extract reference files provide up-to-date data on:
·Region/District/Port Codes
·Country Codes
·Foreign Port Codes
·Carrier Codes
·Harmonized Tariff Schedule
·Facilities Information and Resources Management System (FIRMS) Codes Extract reference files are useful for editing and cross-referencing input data.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) notifies Automated Commercial System (ACE) users through the Cargo Systems Messaging Service (CSMS) when an update has been made to a file. This allows users to update their own files.  

Operational Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) users have the capability to query a manufacturer identification (MID) code to determine whether the manufacturer name and address is on file. If the MID is not on file, the message MID CODE NOT ON FILE is system generated. If the MID is on file, but without name and address information, the message MID NAME/ADDRESS NOT ON FILE is returned. If the MID is on file, the MID number is returned to the filer along with the following data: 

·International Organization for Standardization (ISO) country code 

·Firm Name 

·Street Address 

·City 

·ZIP or Postal Code 

  Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated (HTS) input and output records provide data related to a tariff number. HTS records are either HTS update transaction records, HTS query records, or HTS extract reference file records. Update Transactions The Automated Commercial System (ACS) HTS file is updated either by magnetic tape or by Record Identifiers V1 through V9 and VA through VC. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) offers the trade community a complete copy of the HTS on magnetic tape. It should be noted that the data on the tape is based on the latest data received from the U.S. International Trade Commission. HTS is updated in ACS and the magnetic tape is sent in early December to all those who request it. The price is $500. (For ABI participants there is no charge.)

Foreign-Trade Zones (FTZ) are secure areas under U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) supervision that are generally considered outside CBP territory upon activation. Located in or near CBP ports of entry, they are the United States' version of what are known internationally as free-trade zones.

Authority for establishing these facilities is granted by the Foreign-Trade Zones Board under the Foreign-Trade Zones Act of 1934, as amended (19 U.S.C. 81a-81u). The Foreign-Trade Zones Act is administered through two sets of regulations, the FTZ Regulations (15 CFR Part 400) and CBP Regulations (19 CFR Part 146).

Foreign and domestic merchandise may be moved into zones for operations, not otherwise prohibited by law, including storage, exhibition, assembly, manufacturing, and processing. All zone activity is subject to public interest review. Foreign-trade zone sites are subject to the laws and regulations of the United States as well as those of the states and communities in which they are located.

Under zone procedures, the usual formal CBP entry procedures and payments of duties are not required on the foreign merchandise unless and until it enters CBP territory for domestic consumption, at which point the importer generally has the choice of paying duties at the rate of either the original foreign materials or the finished product. Domestic goods moved into the zone for export may be considered exported upon admission to the zone for purposes of excise tax rebates and drawback.

Qualified public or private corporations that may operate the facilities themselves or contract for the operation sponsors foreign-trade zones. The operations are conducted on a public utility basis, with published rates. A typical general-purpose zone provides leasable storage/distribution space to users in general warehouse-type buildings with access to various modes of transportation. Many zone projects include an industrial park site with lots on which zone users can construct their own facilities.

Subzones are normally private plant sites authorized by the Board and sponsored by a grantee for operations that usually cannot be accommodated within an existing general-purpose zone.

  The in-bond process facilitates the flow of trade by allowing importers as well as transportation and logistics partners to choose the port at which their cargo is entered for consumption into the commerce of the United States via immediate transportation (IT) entries. The in-bond system also covers cargo that is not intended for entry for consumption in the United States but is instead sent in-transit through the United States to another country. These are either transportation and/or exportation (T&E) in-bond entries (i.e., the cargo enters in one United States port and moves in-bond before being exported at another port) or immediate export (IE) in-bond entries (the cargo is imported to and is exported from the same port). Importers and transportation and logistics partners may elect to use the in-bond process for a variety of commercial reasons. In-bond has become a widely used and integral component of the trade process. 

In-bond cargo must be transported by a carrier covered by a CBP-approved bond that allows cargo that has not yet been entered for consumption to move through the United States. Such carriers can move goods by ship, truck, rail, plane or any combination of modes. CBP is not concerned with the type of mode used by the trade as long as the bond has been approved and issued. The bond is a contract given to insure performance of obligations imposed by law or regulation that guarantees payment to CBP if the required acts are not performed, i.e., cargo is not delivered timely. If CBP finds the bonded party has violated laws or regulations, and, as a result, breached the terms and conditions of the bond in the movement of the in-bond, CBP can initiate liquidated damages for the breach against the bonded party. 

Drawback and Duty Deferral Programs. The NAFTA provisions on drawback and duty deferral applies to goods imported into Canada or the United States and subsequently exported to the other country (i.e., Canada or the United States) on or after January 1, 1996. The NAFTA provisions on drawback and duty deferral will apply to goods imported into Canada or the United States and subsequently exported to Mexico, or imported into Mexico and subsequently exported to Canada or the United States, on or after January 1, 2001. Thus, transactions involving either the importation of goods into Mexico or the exportation of goods to Mexico will not come under the drawback and duty deferral provisions of the NAFTA until January 1, 2001.

Drawback is the refund, reduction or waiver in whole or in part of customs duties assessed or collected upon importation of an article or materials which are subsequently exported.

Under the NAFTA, the amount of customs duties that will be refunded, reduced or waived is the lesser of the total amount of customs duties paid or owed on the goods or materials when imported into a NAFTA country and the total amount of customs duties paid or owed on the finished good in the NAFTA country to which it is exported.

No NAFTA country, on condition of export, will refund, reduce or waive the following: antidumping or countervailing duties, premiums offered or collected pursuant to any tendering system with respect to the administration of quantitative import restrictions, tariff rate quotas or trade preference levels, or a fee pursuant to Section 22 of the U.S. Agricultural Adjustment Act. Moreover, same condition substitution drawback was eliminated effective January 1, 1994.