International Trade Law News

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an administrative message advising Automated Broker Interface (ABI) Filers of continued problems associated with the integrity of importer of record data. CBP has indicated that any data that is entered that is determined to be input as a "knowingly invalid record" will be considered to be an egregious violation and will be penalized accordingly. The text of CBP's message is as follows:

ADMINISTRATIVE MESSAGE 04-2562         12/20/2004

TITLE: ABI-IMPORTER OF RECORD DATA INTEGRITY



MEMORANDUM FOR:  AUTOMATED BROKER INTERFACE (ABI) FILERS



FROM:            ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OFFICE OF FIELD OPERATIONS



SUBJECT:         IMPORTER OF RECORD DATA INTEGRITY



ON JULY 29, 2003, AN ABI ADMINISTRATIVE MESSAGE (03-1894) WAS ISSUED

REGARDING THE IMPORTANCE OF ENSURING THE INTEGRITY OF DATA RELATED TO

IMPORTING PARTIES, SPECIFICALLY, THE DATA IN THE IMPORTER OF RECORD

DATABASE (SRE FILE). THE JULY 2003 ABI ADMINISTRATIVE MESSAGE SERVED

AS A WRITTEN INFORMED COMPLIANCE NOTICE TO ALL ABI FILERS ON THE

NECESSITY TO TRANSMIT ACCURATE DATA AND THAT SUCH DATA MUST BE VERIFIED/

VALIDATED TO EVERY POSSIBLE EXTENT.



SUBSEQUENT TO THE ISSUANCE OF JULY 2003, CBP PERSONNEL HAVE FOUND THAT

INVALID INFORMATION CONTINUES TO BE TRANSMITTED TO CBP'S IMPORTER OF

RECORD MODULE. AS A RESULT, CBP FINDS IT NECESSARY TO TAKE ACTION ON

SUCH ABUSES OF THE ACS DATABASE.



THIS MEMORANDUM SERVES TO INFORM ALL FILERS THAT ANY DATA INPUT INTO THE

SRE FILE, ON OR AFTER THE DATE OF THIS NOTICE, THAT IS IDENTIFIED AS

BEING INPUT AS A KNOWINGLY INVALID RECORD WILL RESULT IN A BROKER

PENALTY UNDER 19 U.S.C. 1641(D) FOR EGREGIOUS VIOLATION. ADDITIONALLY,

UPON DISCOVERY OF SUCH FALSE RECORDS CBP PERSONNEL WILL IMMEDIATELY VOID

THE IDENTIFIED RECORDS TO IMPEDE ANY FUTURE TRANSACTIONS.



IN REVIEWING THE SRE FILE, IT HAS BECOME APPARENT THAT WHEN A FILER

TRANSMITS A RECORD WITH CLERICAL ERROR, THAT RECORD REMAINS ACTIVE

UNTIL THE ACS DATABASE AUTOMATICALLY INACTIVATES THE RECORD. FILERS ARE

NOT REQUESTING THAT SUCH INVALID TRANSMISSIONS BE VOIDED FROM CBP'S

DATABASE. ALL FILERS ARE TO BE ALERTED THAT IT IS THEIR RESPONSIBILITY

TO IMMEDIATELY NOTIFY CBP OF ERRONEOUS SRE FILE TRANSMISSIONS AND

REQUEST THAT THEY BE VOIDED. FAILURE TO REQUEST A VOID OF THE ERRONEOUS

RECORD MAY RESULT IN THE ISSUANCE OF A BROKER PENALTY.



IF YOU SHOULD HAVE QUESTIONS PLEASE DIRECT THEM TO MS. SHERRI HOFFMAN,

ACTING CHIEF, ENTRY AND DRAWBACK MANAGEMENT BRANCH, AT (202) 344-2684.



ELIZABETH G. DURANT