US Customs and Border Protection issue guidance over exports to hurricane-hit ports

The US Customs and Borders Protection (‘CBP’) has provided guidance for exporters over restricted port operations following Hurricane Irma.

Commercial operations at a number of ports in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Puerto Rico, Bahamas have been suspended since 6 September or later due to the impact of the hurricane.

CSMS# 17-000555 (9/11/17) advises exporters that are able to divert their export cargo to do so, and to ‘make every effort’ to correct and update the electronic export information (‘EEI’) filings within the Automated Export System (‘AES’) to reflect the new ports of export, the date of export and the new carrier information.

CBP advises that prior to amending the EEI, the exporter, freight-forwarder or authorised filing agent should, if possible, try to determine if any of the cargo has been damaged, in order to decide whether to amend the EEI filing, or cancel the shipment and the EEI filing.

If adjustments are needed in the quantities or values of the cargo being exported under an export licence or licence exemption/exception, the exporter or their authorised filing agent should first attempt to amend the EEI filing to correct the information for the shipment.

If the amend is unsuccessful, CBP advises the exporter to contact Outbound Enforcement at OFO-Export-Cargo@cbp.dhs.gov, providing the ITN, the licence number, the corrected quantities and values for each controlled commodity (including the ITAR data elements).

For CSMS# 17-000555 (9/11/17) see:  https://apps.cbp.gov/csms/viewmssg.asp?Recid=22957&page=&srch_argv=17-000555&srchtype=&btype=&sortby=&sby=