Articles
Customs Alert - Customs Announces Its Latest Benefit For Importers Participating In Its Importer Self-Assessment Program
By Carl Soller
Nov. 28, 2007
On November 13, 2007, Customs announced that it will provide an additional benefit to importers participating in its Importer Self-Assessment Program (“ISA”). Typically, when a shipment is targeted as a result of findings by one of the Textile Production Verification Teams (“TPVT”), the shipment is detained by Customs pending the submission of production records evidencing country of origin and admissibility. In certain cases under the new policy, Customs will conditionally release the merchandise of ISA participants, and then request submission of the necessary production records. Additionally, the Import Specialists will work with the ISA’s account manager to ensure compliance without disrupting trade activities. Essentially, ISA companies and their customers will avoid cargo delays due to unnecessary detentions of imported merchandise.
The Importer Self-Assessment Program is a voluntary partnership between Customs and importers designed to increase overall trade compliance. In return, importers are offered meaningful benefits, such as the ability to receive entry summary trade data; access to key liaison officials; removal from the Regulatory Audit Division’s audit pool established for Focused Assessments; and advance notice of certain potential violations with the opportunity to file prior disclosures, effectively avoiding the imposition of civil penalties and liquidated damages. The only prerequisites to ISA eligibility are that an importer must be a resident entity in the U.S., a member of Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (“C-TPAT”), and have two years of importing experience.
To find out more about ISA and its benefits, please contact Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, P.C.