Importers into the United States are under greater pressure than ever to ensure their data is validated. As of July 25, U.S. Customs Border Protection (CBP) requires the estimated date of arrival for all Entry Type 86 (ET 86) submissions in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE).

ET 86 submissions that do not include the estimated date of arrival will result in an entry rejection error.

This also paves the way for a future development that will activate a validation in ACE to ensure that an appropriate party does not receive Section 321 clearance for more than an aggregate of $800 in shipments on a given day. This is estimated to be deployed by U.S. CBP in September.

Entry Type 86 is a customs clearance procedure for goods imported into the United States. They are low value shipments imported by one person on one day with a value not more than $800.

The changes being introduced by U.S. CBP have huge implications for all importers of record – brokers, carriers, businesses or individuals which take responsibility for entry submission through US Customs ACE portal while ensuring all relevant regulations are followed.

While the July 25 deadline focusses on the timeliness of data being provided, just as critical is the requirement for shipment data to be complete and accurate. This requires the question of ‘how are you validating your data?’ to be answered.

Incomplete or vague descriptions, lack of HS codes and other data failures are being monitored by U.S. CBP and there are already cases – some sources suggest over 20 – in which filers are having their licences suspended.

Laurie Cieciuch, Hurricane Commerce’s Partnerships Director – North America, said: “The number of companies being impacted by the changes is growing. With peak fast approaching, the best approach is to get prepared and eliminate the risk of your business being affected with the potential for fines or licence suspensions.

“A lot of the data sets being given to brokers are of poor quality and they are not willing to take the risk. They are pushing back and saying that the data provided to them needs to be cleaned up. Entire consignments can be impacted if there is evidence of poor data.”

The data provided in ACE needs to be finished rather than raw data.

One of the biggest issues for U.S. CBP concerns the accuracy and completeness of product descriptions.

U.S CBP states: “The description should be in plain language and detailed enough to allow U.S. Customs and Border Protection to identify the size, shape and characteristics of the commodity.”

Unacceptable descriptions could include ‘animals’, ‘appliances’, ‘auto parts’, ‘caps’ and ‘leather articles’.

Acceptable descriptions replacing the above examples could be ‘live horse’, ‘microwave oven’ ‘air filters’, ‘baseball caps’ and ‘leather handbags’.

Another area of scrutiny in ACE is invalid consignee names with known examples including ‘anyone’, ‘someone’ as well as the more colourful ‘Donald Duck’ and ‘Mickey Mouse’.

Maureen Cori, a Hurricane Commerce Board Advisor, said: “Complete and accurate product descriptions and other data sets really do matter. The data provided must reflect what is in the box. Vague descriptions are being closely monitored resulting in some of the broker and carrier suspensions we have seen in recent weeks.

“While timely data is now a requirement, the completeness and accuracy of data also needs to be good.

“The onus is on everyone in the supply chain to take responsibility for the quality of the data provided with the relationship between the filer and their customer particularly important.”

Hurricane’s data solutions help to power global trade for its customers including carriers, customs brokers, freight forwarders, retailers, air cargo specialists and postal operators. The company has customers on six continents.

The global cross-border market is forecast to hit $7.9 trillion by 2030.

Hurricane’s Kona API has been built to handle the huge volumes involved in global trade in which automation is key and where the tech must be highly scalable.

Customers depend on the speed of Kona to classify data that matches the description. Just as critical are the status code reports, assisting in flagging poor / unacceptable descriptions and providing the time to research and amend the HS code prior to submission. As most Type 86 entries are consolidations, one error could impact the entire entry.

The data, including status code reports, provided by Hurricane is also vital for our customers’ shipment due diligence and ensuring an auditable trail.

Kona is the only API of its kind to include the four critical areas of data validation, duty and tax calculation, prohibited and restricted goods screening and denied parties screening in a single call. Kona’s modular nature allows customers to use some or all of its functionality depending on business requirements.