Forthcoming customs enforcement changes will impact fishing tackle imports

Forthcoming customs enforcement changes will impact fishing tackle imports © American Sportfishing Association

New federal customs policies prescribed in Executive Order 14411: Strengthening Customs Enforcement will significantly affect companies importing fishing equipment, components, and any other products into the United States.

Members that serve as the importer of record (IOR) should take the following steps now:

• Review and update your CBP Form 5106 before September 18. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) may immediately void an IOR number containing inaccurate or incomplete information, preventing the company from importing merchandise.

• Assess whether your company qualifies as a U.S. or foreign IOR; if the latter, additional restrictions will soon be required to continue importing goods into the country. Status determination takes into consideration corporate organization, ownership, principal place of business, physical U.S. operations and tangible U.S. assets. U.S. incorporation or a U.S. address alone may not be sufficient.

• Pay outstanding CBP bills (if applicable: for all entities owned by the parent company), review your customs bond and organize information about ownership, affiliates, assets and import volumes.

• Test whether you can obtain foreign export documents and reconcile with the information reported to CBP. Mitigate discrepancies.

• Review any valuation, classification, country-of-origin, preferential qualifications or other compliance concerns with customs counsel.
  • COO and valuation will be top targets of CBP's soon-to-be deployed "AI Detective Border"

Foreign IORs face the greatest potential disruption. Executive Order 14411 directs CBP to prohibit foreign IORs from using informal entries, restrict their use of continuous bonds and require CTPAT participation or use of a CTPAT-validated U.S. customs broker.

Members that do not serve as the IOR (e.g., those that purchase LDP or DDP) should confirm that the supplier, affiliate or other entity serving in that role is preparing for these changes, particularly if it is a foreign IOR. Failure by that entity to comply could delay or interrupt shipments. If you are uncertain which entity serves as IOR for a particular shipment, confirm with your customs broker and/or freight forwader.

CBP has not yet published all implementation details, but affected companies should begin preparing now. ASA recently hosted a webinar with our trade firm, Sorini, Samet & Associates, discussing the upcoming changes. You can view the slides from that discussion here.

For more information, review Executive Order 14411, CBP's September 18 enforcement notice and CBP Form 5106. Please reach out to ASA's VP of Government Affairs, Mike Leonard, with any questions.