The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (“FDA”) Weekly Entry Filing (“WEF”) procedure for Foreign Trade Zones (“FTZs”) was instituted in the mid-1990s to provide a vehicle to “expedite entry of repetitive shipments of ‘low risk’ merchandise from FTZs in the United States.”
If your firm is an FTZ operator or user, you know firsthand the significant impact that ACE and PGA reporting requirements are having on our industry. By all accounts, the past 12 months have been a busy, often confusing time that’s been full of changes.
While the importing community is knee-deep in the on-going ACE implementation and deciphering Participating Government Agency requirements to meet upcoming deadlines, it is hard to believe that there could be other deadlines looming, but there are and this time it is for exports!
As the mandated transition to CBP’s Automated Commercial Environment (“ACE”) looms, trade has become all-too-familiar with the CBP catch phrase “Don’t Wait, Migrate!”, encouraging trade users to embrace the use of the ACE Portal.
Important dates and differences of new requirements for all 06 entries (individual and weekly).
The long anticipated transition to ACE for entry summary and cargo release is just around the corner. The transition scheduled for November 1, 2015 will also include the opportunity to interface by electronic means with multiple and various Partner Government Agencies (“PGAs”) that will soon be on- boarding with ACE.
When the FTZ Board regulations (15 CFR Part 400) were revised in 2012, activities previously referred to as “manufacturing” or “processing” essentially were merged under one definition termed “production”. For FTZ operators and users, it is critical that the definition of production is fully understood so that the regulations and requirements pertaining to production can be complied with on an ongoing basis.
The FTZ Board regulations (15 CFR §400) require that each Grantee submit an annual report to the FTZ Board by March 31st each year. In turn, each year the FTZ Board submits the completed annual report covering activities of all zones to Congress.
Most companies currently using or considering using the FTZ program are keenly aware of weekly entry and how it can improve import operations. Self-enacting federal legislation was passed in 2000 that significantly expanded the logistics and administrative benefits of FTZs to distributors…
In-bond is an integral part of zone operations, facilitating the movement of goods without the payment of duty to the zone from the port, between zones, extending zone benefits to zone exports, and helping to create duty savings both, up and down the supply chain. Chances are if you are involved in zone operations, you have had a close encounter with the in-bond program.