Importers of steel and aluminum products are no longer required to provide certain information to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) by email in order to activate approved Section 323 exclusions in Automated Commercial Environment (ACE).
According to a message issued on Feb. 7, the CBP stated that it is now directly processing approved Section 232 exclusions based on weekly lists provide by the Department of Commerce (DOC). The CBP is now activating approved product exclusion IDs in ACE on a weekly basis.
Importers can check the CBP.gov website every Friday, to determine if a Section 232 approved product exclusion is active in ACE. The posting can be found on the Active Section 323 Product Exclusions in ACE page here.
The product exclusion ID must be on the list of active product exclusions on CBP.gov before the importer of record or customs broker submits the exclusion ID on an entry or entry summary line.
CBP receives approved exclusions from the DOC on a weekly basis and activates exclusions in ACE on a weekly basis. As a result, the CBP notes that there will be a delay between the approval date of a Section 232 exclusion and activation in ACE. If an approved product exclusion is not on the active product exclusion list on CBP.gov, you should check the following Friday.
If for some reason you’re unable to file an entry with one of the active product exclusion numbers, you should contact your CBP Client Representative.
CBP will only process a product exclusion if the name of the Importer of Record (IOR) is on the original exclusion submission request with DOC and matches the importer name registered in ACE through the 5106 process (see CSMS 48979698). If the name of the importer of record on the original exclusion submission request with DOC does not match the importer name registered in ACE, the importer will need to submit an IOR change request directly with DOC.
For more information, including instructions for filing a Product Exclusion ID, visit the CBP’s updated page on Section 232 Product Exclusions.
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