Due to scheduled maintenance, the interface between U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will be down on Thursday, March 16, 2023, 10:00PM – 12:00AM, March 17, Eastern Time.

During this time:

·        FDA will not process any inbound entries or outbound messages.

·        Status messages generated during this window will be queued and sent to CBP when the interface is restored.

·        Do not resubmit entries as this will increase the processing time to catch up when the interface is restored.

During this time for Prior Notice Submissions FDA will be operating under Contingency Scenario 1.

·        FDA Prior Notice System Interface (PNSI) will be available for use at  www.access.fda.gov

·        ABI filers may decide to wait out the ACE/OASIS interface downtime if the timeliness of prior notice will not be affected. Filers who choose this option remain responsible for filing timely prior notice under section 801(m) of the Act and under the prior notice final rule.

·        Alternatively, filers may submit prior notice via PNSI, in which case the prior notice confirmation number must accompany the article of food and must be provided to CBP or FDA upon arrival (21 CFR 1.279(g)). In addition, FDA and CBP recommend that the PNSI confirmation page, including the prior notice confirmation number and time stamp, be provided to CBP officers for cargo release. If the PNSI confirmation page is not provided, it may delay cargo release.

·        If prior notice was submitted via ABI/ACE and a prior notice confirmation number has been received before the interface outage, the submitter may proceed with prior notice using the standard process. However, if prior notice was submitted via ABI/ACE but a prior notice confirmation number has not been received before the interface outage, submitters should provide a signed copy of the ABI transmission or other evidence to show that prior notice has been submitted via ABI/ACE, to CBP officers at the time of cargo release.

For additional details, see Prior Notice Contingency Scenario 1: Prior Notice Contingency Scenario 1

For questions regarding Prior Notice, please contact the FDA's Division of Food Defense Targeting (DFDT). The DFDT can be reached 24/7/365 at (866) 521-2297 or prior.notice@fda.hhs.gov