How to Request Importer Confidentiality when Importing via U.S. Ports

(CIFFA eBulletin)

CIFFA recently learned ‘how companies can request importer confidentiality’ from one of the tradeshow participants at the September FIATA World Congress in Geneva.

For goods arriving in the U.S.A. via marine ports, importer data and potentially confidential commercial information is taken from the manifest data and made public through reports such as the Piers Report. If Canadian cargo is FROB (Freight Remaining on Board), or in a container arriving in North America via a U.S. port, the Canadian commercial data is also publicly available through these reports. If Canadian importers wish to remain private there is a means to so – they can request importer confidentiality.

Importer names on entry documents are confidential and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) does not disclose names of importers to the public. The privacy statute, 19 CFR 103.31 (d), however, allows the media to collect manifest data at every U.S. port of entry. Reporters collect and publish names of importers from vessel manifest data unless an importer/shipper requests confidentiality.

Importers can request confidentiality for 2 years by writing the Privacy Branch, 799 Ninth St., N.W., Fifth Floor Mint Annex, Washington, DC 20229. After 2 years, the request can be renewed. U.S. CBP is working on an electronic method for submitting this request, but it is not high on the priority list for CBP.