Mandatory Transition in ACE: Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and APHIS CORE (USDA) Requirements

Last week, we sent a newsletter regarding National Marine Fisheries Services new requirements for processing customs clearance electronically. Since Food & Drug Administration (FDA) will be transitioning in ACE on June 15, 2016 and USDA (APHIS CORE) will be transitioning around July 2016, we would like to remind our valued customers the need of providing complete information to us and sending us shipping documents in advance.

In the past, we would be able to provide the PGA’s (Partner Government Agencies) a lot of this information after we transmitted the CBP entry. Now, with the transition to ACE, we have to provide the information in advance, electronically, before we can even transmit our entry to CBP. If we do not have this information at the time of entry, the processing of your entry will be delayed.

For Acidified and Low Acid Canned Foods, the folowing information must be stated on the commercial invoice:

  • Food Canning Establishment# (FCE)
  • Submission Identifier (SID)
  • Volume and/or Can Dimensions

For Medical Devices and other commodies that require Affirmation of Compliance, the following must be stated on the commercial invoice if applicable:

  • Pre-Market Notification# (PM) or 510K if applicable
  • Device Listing Number (LST
  • Device Foreign Manufacturer# (DEV)
  • Device Initial Importer# (DII)

For commodities that require USDA Import Permits and various certificates, the following information/documents must be sent to us (not all applies):

  • USDA Import Permits
  • Health Certificates
  • Veterinart Certificates
  • Irradiation Certificates
  • Foreign Site Certificate of Inspection
  • All other related certificates

Two important pieces of information that also needs to be transmitted electronically are the names of the Genus and Species and the Intended Use  of the product. They must be stated on the commercial invoice.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you,

Flegenheimer International