Importance of ISF data before shipment.

Earlier this year, Customs and Border Protection began enforcing the provisions of the Importer Security Filing, or as it is also known, “10 + 2”.  Enforcement to importers means cargo can be subject to one or more of the following:

  • Examination resulting in delays, costs and potential damage during inspection.
  • A liquidated damages penalty in the amount of $5,000.
  • Refusal of unlading from the arriving vessel causing additional costs and headaches for the carrier as well, who will gladly pass those costs along to you.

The filing of the ISF data is the importer’s responsibility.  At Nelson International, we are your partners in this process and want you to understand and be aware that we are here to help, but do require that you work with us.

Because the requirement of the statute is that the information be transmitted no less than 24 hours prior to lading on the vessel, Nelson requires that you provide us the ISF declaration no less than 72 hours prior to vessel sailing.  Those data elements include:

  1. Importer of record’s name, address and  federal ID number.
  2. Consignee’s name, address and federal ID number.
  3. Buyer’s name and address.
  4. Seller’s name and address.
  5. Ship to name and address.
  6. Manufacturer’s name and address.
  7. Country of origin.
  8. HTS codes.
  9. Consolidator’s name and address.
  10. Container stuffing location name and address.

In order to match the information with the AMS filing, it is also helpful to have the bill of lading number and Standard Carrier Alpha Code (or SCAC) code of the carrier(s) involved.

If we do not have the information, we cannot file the ISF in a timely fashion and the penalty will be issued to the importer of record.

Questions about the ISF, its importance to Customs’ targeting and how Nelson submits and confirms that the data has been accepted and is on file should be directed to your account representative.