As you know, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced back in October that it would require additional information for all entries containing China-origin goods, including raw materials and components, in an effort to prevent goods produced or mined in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region from entering the U.S. supply chain. Specifically, CBP stated that the Manufacturer Identification Code (MID) would need to include the manufacturer’s legal name and full address, including postal code. This caused quite a stir among interested stakeholders for an number of reasons, including the fact that the postal code field was not available in the MID setup in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). As a result, CBP put the implementation on hold while it formed a working group to discuss the issues.
Based on those efforts, CBP has advised that it will roll out the new UFLPA Region Alert enhancement in ACE on
March 18.
At that time, when a new MID is created or when an application to release cargo from CBP custody is filed, all entries containing address in China will be prompted to include a postal code. If the postal code is invalid, the user will receive an error message and that transaction will be halted until the error is corrected. If a XUAR region postal code is provided, users will also receive a warning message and, it is assumed, that the transaction will not be allowed to proceed.
The enhancement will also provide the ability to add postal codes to existing MIDs for cargoes that enter the U.S. ahead of the March 18 implementation date, but aren’t scheduled for released until after the 18th.
Companies who import anything from China should prepare for the March 18 implementation date by obtaining the following manufacturer’s information from your suppliers:
- Full legal name
- Facility address (not a PO box address)
- Valid zip code
OCEANAIR’s VP of Import Compliance warns that China entries will be delayed by CBP unless the full name, address, and postal code of the Chinese manufacturer are provided.
