U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a proposed rule that would require importers and carriers to submit additional information on import cargo before it enters the U.S. The new filing requirement is known as the "10+2" rule, because it would mandate the submission of 10 additional data elements by importers, and two additional pieces of information by carriers. The 10 data elements to be required in an "Importer Security Filing" include the names and addresses of the manufacturer or supplier, seller or owner, buyer or owner, ship-to location and consolidator, as well as the container stuffing location, identification number of the importer of record or foreign trade zone, consignee numbers, country of origin and commodity's Harmonized Tariff Schedule number. The two pieces of information from carriers are the vessel stow plan used to transmit information about the physical location of cargo loaded aboard ship and bound for the U.S., and container status messages, which report container movements and changes in status. "The Security Filing will improve CBP's ability to target high-risk cargo by identifying actual cargo movements and improving the accuracy of cargo descriptions," said CBP Commissioner W. Ralph Basham. It will also allow the agency to identify low-risk shipments earlier in the process, he said. Currently, Customs relies primarily on carrier manifest information in order to determine prior to vessel loading which shipments should be targeted for inspection. Written comments on all aspects of the proposal are due by March 3, 2008.
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