§ 123.91 - Electronic information for rail cargo required in advance of arrival.

§ 123.91 Electronic information for rail cargo required in advance of arrival.

(a) General requirement. Pursuant to section 343(a), Trade Act of 2002, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2071 note), for any train requiring a train sheet under § 123.6, that will have commercial cargo aboard, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) must electronically receive from the rail carrier certain information concerning the incoming cargo, as enumerated in paragraph (d) of this section, no later than 2 hours prior to the cargo reaching the first port of arrival in the United States. Specifically, to effect the advance electronic transmission of the required rail cargo information to CBP, the rail carrier must use a CBP-approved electronic data interchange system.

(1) Through cargo in transit to a foreign country. Cargo arriving by train for transportation in transit across the United States from one foreign country to another; and cargo arriving by train for transportation through the United States from point to point in the same foreign country are subject to the advance electronic information filing requirement for incoming cargo under paragraph (a) of this section.

(2) Cargo under bond. Cargo that is to be unladed from the arriving train and entered, in bond, for exportation, or for transportation and exportation, in another vehicle or conveyance is also subject to the advance electronic information filing requirement under paragraph (a) of this section.

(b) Exception; cargo in transit from point to point in the United States. Domestic cargo transported by train to one port from another in the United States by way of Canada or Mexico is not subject to the advance electronic information filing requirement for incoming cargo under paragraph (a) of this section.

(c) Incoming rail carrier -

(1) Receipt of data; acceptance of cargo. As a pre-requisite to accepting the cargo, the carrier must receive, from the foreign shipper and owner of the cargo or from a freight forwarder, as applicable, any necessary cargo shipment information, as listed in paragraph (d) of this section, for electronic transmission to CBP.

(2) Accuracy of information received by rail carrier. Where the rail carrier electronically presenting the cargo information required in paragraph (d) of this section receives any of this information from another party, CBP will take into consideration how, in accordance with ordinary commercial practices, the rail carrier acquired such information, and whether and how the carrier is able to verify this information. Where the rail carrier is not reasonably able to verify such information, CBP will permit the carrier to electronically present the information on the basis of what the carrier reasonably believes to be true.

(d) Cargo information required. The rail carrier must electronically transmit to CBP the following information for all required incoming cargo that will arrive in the United States by train:

(1) The rail carrier identification SCAC code (the unique Standard Carrier Alpha Code assigned for each carrier by the National Motor Freight Traffic Association; see § 4.7a(c)(2)(iii) of this chapter);

(2) The carrier-assigned conveyance name, equipment number and trip number;

(3) The scheduled date and time of arrival of the train at the first port of entry in the United States;

(4) The numbers and quantities of the cargo laden aboard the train as contained in the carrier's bill of lading, either master or house, as applicable (this means the quantity of the lowest external packaging unit; containers and pallets do not constitute acceptable information; for example, a container holding 10 pallets with 200 cartons should be described as 200 cartons);

(5) A precise cargo description (or the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) number(s) to the 6-digit level under which the cargo is classified if that information is received from the shipper) and weight of the cargo; or, for a sealed container, the shipper's declared description and weight of the cargo (generic descriptions, specifically those such as “FAK” (“freight of all kinds”), “general cargo,” and “STC” (“said to contain”) are not acceptable);

(6) The shipper's complete name and address, or identification number, from the bill(s) of lading (for each house bill in a consolidated shipment, the identity of the foreign vendor, supplier, manufacturer, or other similar party is acceptable (and the address of the foreign vendor, etc., must be a foreign address); by contrast, the identity of the carrier, freight forwarder, consolidator, or broker, is not acceptable; the identification number will be a unique number to be assigned by CBP upon the implementation of the Automated Commercial Environment);

(7) The complete name and address of the consignee, or identification number, from the bill(s) of lading (The consignee is the party to whom the cargo will be delivered in the United States. However, in the case of cargo shipped “to order of [a named party],” the carrier must identify this named “to order” party as the consignee; and, if there is any other commercial party listed in the bill of lading for delivery or contact purposes, the carrier must also report this other commercial party's identity and contact information (address) in the “Notify Party” field of the advance electronic data transmission to CBP, to the extent that the CBP-approved electronic data interchange system is capable of receiving this data. The identification number will be a unique number assigned by CBP upon implementation of the Automated Commercial Environment);

(8) The place where the rail carrier takes possession of the cargo shipment;

(9) Internationally recognized hazardous material code when such materials are being shipped by rail;

(10) Container numbers (for containerized shipments) or the rail car numbers; and

(11) The seal numbers for all seals affixed to containers and/or rail cars to the extent that CBP's data system can accept this information (for example, if a container has more than two seals, and only two seal numbers can be accepted through the system per container, the carrier's electronic presentation of two of these seal numbers for the container would be considered as constituting full compliance with this data element).

[CBP Dec. 03-32, 68 FR 68173, Dec. 5, 2003, as amended at CBP Dec. 09-39, 74 FR 52677, Oct. 14, 2009]