US Customs increases inspection rate! Certain goods are prohibited from boarding the ship

Since April, customs inspection rates across the United States have soared, mainly targeting vague and non-compliant cargo descriptions. This phenomenon has expanded from the United States to Canada. Goods in North America are subject to strict inspections upon arrival at ports, triggering extensive attention.

On April 26, Evergreen Shipping also issued a customer notice to provide an early warning. Attention when shipping!

In fact, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued an official early warning in early April and issued an announcement regarding goods with ambiguous product descriptions in cargo information.

The announcement clearly states that starting from April 1, 2024, CBP will join hands with all ports in the United States to implement cargo information transmission, and communicate and investigate with entry declarers regarding vague and non-compliant cargo.

Under the relevant regulations, carriers and other parties who choose to submit electronic cargo information data to U.S. Customs and Border Protection must provide specific and precise descriptions of goods, and some common vague and non-compliant cargo descriptions will no longer be accepted.

• Gift (gift)
• daily necessities (daily necessities, daily necessities)
• accessories
• parts
• consolidated

Note: Among them, only the use of “consolidated” at the master bill of lading level is acceptable.

CBP in most cases sends messages to customs brokers after cargo is released through the ACE Cargo Release system. Importers and customs brokers should process this information and work with shippers and bill of lading issuers to ensure that future cargo descriptions comply with regulations.

Examples of unacceptable and acceptable shipment descriptions under U.S. Customs regulations can be found on the following U.S. Customs website: https://www.cbp.gov/trade/basic-import-export/e-commerce