Potential U.S. Government Shutdown Oct. 1st
We anticipate the Federal government will shut down on October 1st. Not all information is known regarding agency impact, but Schenker Customs has been monitoring the situation and joined the National Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association (NCBFAA) webinar Friday afternoon. The NCBFAA is taking the lead to coordinate communications with agencies involved in import / export activities. Following are Schenker’s notes and highlights.
CBP – Anticipate minimal impact. Port personnel and Centers of Excellence and Expertise should be staffed.
U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) – Anticipate the HTS webpage to be taken offline. Therecommendation is to download the HTS prior to October 1st Link to the HTSUS: Harmonized Tariff Schedule (usitc.gov)
Some Partner Government Agencies (PGAs) have alternate funding available, such as user fees, that will keep some personnel in place so impact is expected to be minimal.
- FDA – Food and Drug Administration
- USDA APHIS – Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Other agencies will experience full or near-full furlough of personnel, resulting in significant impact to shipment processing.
- ATF – Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms – Will not be processing applications.
- CPSC – Consumer Product Safety Commission – Staff will be furloughed, however system generated “may proceed” status should still be issued.
- DOC – Department of Commerce – It is expected that Section 232 exclusion requests will not be processed. Exclusions pending activation in ACE may be impacted, resulting in an inability for importers to utilize their new exclusions in entry summary declarations.
- EPA – Environmental Protection Agency – It was stressed that the EPA does not treat a system-generated “may proceed” status as other agencies. The EPA considers it to be a preliminary / contingent status, and operates with the idea they have 30 days to demand redelivery of shipments that received a “may proceed” status. If an importer takes delivery of a shipment subject to EPA, they should be wary about placing the merchandise into use / distribution. It is possible after the shutdown is over, the EPA could demand redelivery of some shipments. In addition, notices of arrival for pesticides will not be processed.
- FWS – Fish & Wildlife Service – It is anticipated that permits will not be processed and that the eDecs system will be taken offline. Inspections should still take place.
- ITA – International Trade Administration – It is expected the website for steel and aluminum license applications will be taken offline. Based on the last shutdown, it is anticipated the ITA will provide a temporary general license number to use in entry declarations.
- NOAA – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – Toothfish (Chilean seabass) shipments will not be cleared.
Much of the impact of the shutdown will be mitigated by the automation of the majority of processes for entry; however, we anticipate there will be a slowdown in some activities and full stoppage of others. We will continue to monitor for updates and communicate as information becomes known.