Effective December 17, 2018, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will begin full enforcement of the ISF-5 filing requirement for Foreign Retained on Board (FROB) cargo. This will affect any foreign cargo that calls a U.S. port during transit.   

As you are aware, Importer Security Filing (“10+2”, “ISF”) rules took effect in 2009. At that time, the importer was defined as the “carrier” and the party responsible for filing ISF. Since its original implementation, carriers have assumed the role of importer throughout the shipment process.

Until now, ISF-5s were never fully enforced, likely due to confusion surrounding the legal language of the ruling.  

Those days are over following CBP’s announcement of a new enforcement date of December 17, 2018. They have also clarified that NVOCCs and booking agents are the parties responsible for ISF-5 filings.

What Are the Specifics for Filing and Who is Responsible?

  • The filing must be completed at the lowest bill of lading level (house bill of lading if applicable) prior to loading. This would require the filing to be completed by NVOCCs and booking agents.   
  • This policy also applies to shipments wherein the cargo is diverted by the carrier, making it become Freight Remaining on Board (FROB). In this instance, the carrier or NVOCC (depending on who issued the bill of lading) is responsible for filing the ISF-5 and must do so within 24 hours from the announced diversion.

What Must Be Filed?

  • Booking party
  • Foreign port of unlading
  • Place of delivery
  • Ship to party
  • Commodity HTSUS number

How Does This Affect Me (The Importer)?

As is the case with standard ISFs, it will now be just as important that you and your suppliers are aware of ISF-5 filing requirements in order to ensure accurate information is provided to your forwarder/broker/carrier as quickly as possible.

For FROB freight, Shapiro can assist if Shapiro routes your cargo. If Shapiro does not, please make certain your forwarder/NVOCC/BCO carrier complies with these requirements.

Shapiro will continue to adhere to our best practices in order to ensure timely and accurate ISF and/or ISF-5 filings.

As always, we are here to assist, so please don’t hesitate to reach out to our compliance team ([email protected]) with any FROB/ISF-5 related questions.  

Shapiro will monitor the situation and provide updates as they become available.