In response to the “Strengthening Customs Enforcement” Executive Order, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is exercising its legal authority to deactivate Importer of Record (IOR) numbers in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) that have not been used to file entry for one or more years and that have no outstanding post-entry transactions. This message is a reminder to the trade community of the process to reactivate an IOR number that has been deactivated. Importers seeking to reactivate their IOR numbers should do so in ACE in coordination with their customs broker to avoid potential delays in processing. 

To reactivate an inactive IOR, an Automated Broker Interface (ABI) broker should submit a Transaction Processing (TP) message with Action Code A to change the status from “20-Inactive” to “10-Active.” Please remember that all required CBP Form (CBF) 5106 data elements must be submitted with the TP message. 

Importers who are unable to reactive their IOR numbers via ABI may submit a revised CBF 5106 with all the mandatory data elements filled out to a Center Entry Specialist Team for manual reactivation. The email to which the CBF 5106 is attached must include “IOR reactivation request” in the subject line and explain in the body that the CBF 5106 is being submitted to reactivate an IOR that already exists, but is currently in “20 – Inactive” status. Once received, the IOR number will be reactivated dependent on the Center’s workload. 

Prior to requesting assistance from CBP, please query and verify the current status of the IOR in the ACE Portal Account.