Customs Mum on 10+2

(Journal of Commerce Online – R.G.Edmonson)

Senior officials at Customs and Border Protection now are declining to predict when the agency's new security filing rule, known as 10+2, will be published.

The rule has been under review for months by the White House Office of Management and Budget. The delay has forced Customs officials to remain silent while OMB deliberates, and left members of the trade with nothing to do but speculate.

Deputy Commissioner Jayson Ahern told the agency’s annual trade symposium on Monday that he would not be reckless as he was in September, when he predicted in remarks to the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America that it would be a matter of days or weeks before OMB signed off on the rule.

Ahern insisted, however, that the rule, which will require importers and carriers to file security data with Customs that does not appear on a carrier’s bill of lading, was essential to Customs' security effort. Read more here.