January 26, 2010 is set to be the deadline that Customs Border Protection (CBP) placed on U.S. Importers to complete their ISF filing with no risk of fines or penalties.

However, after this date CBP will require all U.S. Importers to fully comply with Importer Security Filing (ISF) and Additional Carrier Requirements better known as “10+2’. CBP will now enforce Importers to submit “10” data elements, plus bill of lading numbers prior to the loading of containers and break bulk cargo onto ocean vessels and the origin port. Additionally “2” data elements such as vessel stow plan and container status messages are also required.

For those Importers that fail to comply with “10+2” requirements, they will be faced with penalties by customs of up to $5,000. All ISF submissions must be complete, accurate and on time.

C-TPAT Certified U.S. Importers will have the additional benefit of receiving 50% less mitigation, whereas Non-C-TPAT members will receive full mitigation for failure to comply with the “10+2” requirement.