CSMS # 61723113 - USDA Agricultural Marketing Service – National Organic Program (NOP) ACE Updates & Reminders

U.S. Customs and Border Protection sent this bulletin at 08/09/2024 11:37 AM EDT

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CSMS # 61723113 - USDA Agricultural Marketing Service – National Organic Program (NOP) ACE Updates & Reminders

Effective September 19, 2024, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Organic Program (NOP) will no longer allow the use of the temporary filing code (999-999-T) in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) for organic entries without an NOP Import Certificate (NOP-IC). Brokers/filers are reminded not to use this code for filing in the OR Message Set after that date. Shipments using the temporary code after September 19, 2024, will be subject to adverse actions or additional enforcement actions. If a valid NOP-IC is not available at time of filing, the shipment must either be changed to a conventional (non-organic) status, or reexported. The NOP-IC must be obtained prior to the shipment departing the foreign port of lading from the exporter. The NOP-IC cannot be issued after the product has departed.

U.S. importers facilitating organic trade must be certified organic under the new USDA organic regulations. Certified importers are listed in the Organic Integrity Database (https://organic.ams.usda.gov/integrity). Organic imports not associated with a valid NOP-IC will not be allowed to claim the shipment as certified organic. Also, the AMS AM8 tariff flag will be enforced with a reject severity in ACE Production. AM7 flags will continue to be enforced with a warning severity.

New Codes for entries that will flag in ACE but are not required to have an NOP-IC – these are filed under OR2:

American Certified Organic Goods Returned: 333-550-R
Non-Retail Sales/Donations: 333-800-E
Personal Goods/e-Commerce: 010-737-M

NOP has deployed a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) for all certifiers to issue the NOP-IC in the event of an extended outage of USDA systems. Certifiers will issue a manual version of the NOP-IC, and the Import Certificate Number will be a 9-digit code that ends with “C” (e.g., 840-395-C) that is unique to the certifier that issued the NOP-IC. Brokers and filers will notice that in the event of a system outage, certificate numbers will be 9 digits, not the usual 21 digits. Please be aware that the 9-digit certificate numbers that end with “C“ must be filed under the OR1 Message Set.

For further information on the Strengthening Organic Enforcement regulation including updated FAQs, see: https://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/strengthening-organic-enforcement.

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