As the new year comes in, so do new regulations form U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding the importation of Chemical Substances and Mixtures Subject to EPA’s Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA).

CBP issued a final rule in the Federal Register on December 27, 2016 eliminating the old TSCA Blanket Certification process that provided limited utility, and was more burdensome than the newly required, entry-specific electronic certification.

While the original effective date, January 26, has been temporarily postponed, CBP will require importers to provide an electronic certification in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) for each entry indicating a positive (+) or Negative (-) declaration required by the EPA, along with the name, phone number and email address of the TSCA .

This information can come to Shapiro via a written declaration on the commercial invoice; through your letter of instructions; or in an email referencing the shipment.  Shapiro must have this information on file in order to provide the certification for each entry to Customs.  CBP wants to be able to contact the person making the certifying statement if there is a question.

As a reminder, here are the certification statements:

Positive Certification: I certify that all chemical substances in the shipment comply with all applicable rules or orders under TSCA and the importer is not offering a chemical substance for entry in violation of TSCA or any rule or order under TSCA.

Negative Certification: I certify that all chemicals in the shipment are not subject to TSCA.

In addition to the declaration, please make sure to include the name, phone number and email address of the TSCA certifier.

The final rule also allows importers to provide electronic notice of exportation and abandonment as an alternative to the paper-based written notice process in the existing regulations.

Be sure to read the full Federal Register notice dated for 12/27/2016.

If we can be of assistance, please contact [email protected].