The 2006 Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA) is due to expire at 11:59 PM on October 12, 2015. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued instructions pertaining to changes that will be effected on Tuesday, October 13, 2015, as follows:
- The Original Maritime Certificates of Origin (COO) pursuant to 19 CFR 12.140(c) will no longer be necessary and should not be submitted to (CBP).
- The Region of Origin reporting requirement pursuant to 19 CFR 12.140(b)(1) will no longer be necessary.
- The Export Permit Number pursuant to 19 CFR 12.140(b)(2) will no longer be necessary.
- Automated Broker Interface (ABI) will no longer require a valid SLA 2006 Export Permit Number for tariff numbers subject to the Softwood Lumber Agreement-2006.
- Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) or Automated Commercial System (ACS) filers should enter a dummy SLA 2006 permit number, ‘P88888888’ (P followed by eight 8s), in the Export Permit Number field.
- However, CBP will continue to enforce the Softwood Lumber ACT of 2008 which contains requirements that mandate the reporting of:
a) An Export Price,
b) The Estimated Export Charge (which will be 0%), and
c) The Importer Declaration
…for all imports of softwood lumber and certain softwood lumber products exported from any country into the United States.
These three (3) reporting facets will be transmitted electronically on the Entry Summary (CBP-7501) in ABI. Livingston has asked questions of CBP with regard to the meaning of how these three reporting points will be effectively completed.
Subsequent to the above-noted CBP instructions, the Government of Canada has announced they will continue the Export Permit Program. The details are in this Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD) web posting: Monitoring Softwood Lumber Product Exports to the United States.
The Export Permit will provide the proper export information in lieu of any need for “dummy numbers” and having to request “Importer Declarations” from our customers for all Softwood Lumber shipments exported from Canada and entering the USA.
With the above DFATD announcement, Livingston has also submitted a request to CBP that would allow Point # 5 to reflect the actual SWL Export Permit number in lieu of the “dummy permit number” currently in these instructions.
While the aforementioned CBP instructions have been issued and we are bound to follow them in the short term, Livingston will continue to monitor the situation, providing any necessary updates to these instructions.
Questions about this regulatory update may be directed to your Livingston Client Service Team, or to Livingston’s U.S. Regulatory Affairs group.