U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced that two Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) participating government agencies (PGAs) will become mandatory when filing Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) cargo release on January 26, 2017. This includes goods entered under the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA), or Vehicles and Engines entered under the Clean Air Act.
What does this mean?
Livingston must file the EPA PGA in ACE, using one of the following options:
- Enter and file the PGA message set, or
- Upload images of the required forms/documents to the Document Imaging System (DIS) and transmit a disclaimer reason indicating this, or
- Disclaim the EPA program, when it is not applicable to a flagged Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) number.
What does an Importer need to do?
TSCA: The blanket TSCA program is being eliminated. A TSCA indicator will need to be transmitted in each and every entry summary.
- Review your TSCA regulated products, including Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS), and use Livingston’s new TSCA form, which include new mandatory fields for the phone and email address of the person certifying the product.
- If you provide a yearly TSCA to Livingston, please reference this on your customs invoice, i.e. ‘2017 TSCA issued to Livingston’.
Vehicles & Engines:
- Make sure you are using the latest format, of EPA forms 3520-1 for on road vehicles/engines, or 3520-21 for heavy duty motor vehicles/engines. These both show an expiration date of February 28, 2017.
- Be sure to include a copy of engine labels, EPA approved exemptions or hardship letters, Certificates of Conformity, Canadian emissions control labels, letters from Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) or engine manufacturer, letter from the Department of State, or registration and title, if required, along with your customs documents.
If you are unsure whether your goods are subject to any of these EPA requirements, please contact EPA direct at:
TSCA Hotline: Tel. (202) 554-1404 or tsca-hotline@epa.gov, operating Monday – Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern time.
ODS: David Donaldson Tel. (202) 343-9086 or donaldson.david@epa.gov; or Thomas Land, Tel. (202) 343-9185 or thomas.land@epa.gov
EPA Vehicles and Engines Imports Hotline: Tel. (734) 214-4100 or imports@epa.gov
If you have any questions regarding CBP’s new EPA PGA mandatory filing requirements, Livingston can help! Please contact either your Livingston account manager or our regulatory affairs department at usregaffairs@livingstonintl.com.