SUBJECT: Submission Changes for Supplemental Information Letters and Post Entry Amendments
This notice announces the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) plans to make changes to the revised procedures on submission of “Supplemental Information Letters” dated February 26, 2003.
On April 21, 1997, CBP extended its no-change liquidation cycle to 314 days. As
a result of this, CBP created the Supplemental Information Letter (SIL) and Post Entry Amendment (PEA) to provide a method for filers to request corrections to entry summaries filed with CBP that had been processed for liquidation but had not yet reached the liquidation date.
Effective July 14, 2003, SILs and PEAs will be submitted using the revised Post Summary Adjustment coversheet that is attached, with reason codes. A separate letter may be attached to the coversheet explaining the change, but it will not be a requirement. The coversheet will no longer have to be downloaded from the CBP website. The Broker/Importer will be able to create the coversheet with all required elements, or utilize the copy attached. The Post Summary Adjustment coversheet will be submitted in two copies. If duties are owed to CBP, the Broker/Importer will have the choice of attaching the payment or being billed at liquidation for both SILs and PEAs. If a receipt copy is needed, it will be up to the Importer and Broker to stamp in their copy. We will no longer provide numbered copies back as receipt of documents. The revision will allow all Importer/Brokers to implement new procedures regardless of software being used and will allow CBP to process the refunds or payments in a more efficient and timely manner. Quarterly reporting will only be submitted for PEAs under $20 and value below $10,000. The quarterly report will now be formatted in an excel spreadsheet instead of the database and presented to CBP on a disk. The same elements used for the adjustment coversheet will be used to create the spreadsheet with an additional element indicating which quarter the error was located.
Supplemental Information Letters will still cover issues that are protestable, clerical, classification, and valuation errors, which result in requests for refunds or the submission of additional monies owed prior to liquidation.
The Post Summary Adjustment coversheet will provide all the necessary elements to process the Supplemental Information Letter and Post Entry Amendment. Elements that will be provided on the coversheet: adjustment type PEA or SIL, filer, entry number, date, port, importer number, importer name, narrative, reason code. The adjustment coversheet will indicate the corrected duties, fees, tax, and ADD or CVD, if applicable. These are the amounts that are shown as the ascertained amounts on the corrected CF 7501 entry summary. It will be indicated on the coversheet by the filer if payment is attached, refund, non-revenue PEA or SIL, bill and total amount being refunded, paid or billed. In addition the Importer/Broker may add a comment line to the coversheet. If additional space is required than what is provided in the narrative box, a narrative may be attached on a separate sheet as long as it is submitted in duplicate copies and referenced in the narrative box. SILs or PEAs submitted for quota merchandise should be flagged by the filer for priority treatment. Failure to use the Post Summary Adjustment coversheet or provide a completed coversheet will result in an “INVALID SUBMISSION” of the “Supplemental Information Letter” and the Post Entry Amendment.
The Supplemental Information Letter is not a protest and does not have the same legal validity of protests.
CBP will review the Supplemental Information Letters and notate on the adjustment coversheet either an AGREE, DISAGREE or PROCESSED.
For inquiries regarding the change in procedures, contact Patricia Kreider-Burke at 504- 670-2367.
