‘Advance cargo information’ — EU begins implementation of new rules for inbound air shipment

The European Union (EU) says it has commenced the second phase of its import control system 2 (ICS2) release 2 for postal operators, express and air carriers as well as freight forwarders.

Last year, the EU announced that all air shipments to or through the bloc will be subjected to new guidelines under the ICS2 Release 2.

The ICS2 Release 2 is a large-scale initiative to enhance customs oversight of the movement of goods prior to their arrival at the EU external borders (air, maritime, land, and inland waterways).

In a recent statement, the EU said the new guidelines for the second phase of ICS2 Release 2 kicked off on March 1, 2023.

The guidelines, it said, entail the new advanced cargo information and risk management platform to protect against security and safety threats from goods entering the EU.

According to the EU, operators involved in the transportation of goods by air to or through the region must provide a complete set of entry summary declaration data on the goods before they arrive at the EU external border.

This must be done through the ICS2 system, which is gradually replacing the EU’s existing import control system (ICS) between 2021 and 2024.

“Air carriers currently filing advance cargo information into the import control system (ICS) will fully phase out from that system as soon as they start filing this data into ICS2,” the statement reads.

“The second phase of ICS2 introduces new data requirements and processes to be complied with, prior to transporting the goods from a third country and before their arrival at the European Union’s external border.

“Failure by affected economic operators to obtain the necessary data from their clients and to provide it to ICS2 will lead to actions by customs authorities to enforce compliance prior to and on arrival at the external border.”

EU further said economic operators can request to start filing into ICS2 at a later date during the time-limited deployment window.

“They should do this through the member state where the economic operators registration and identification (EORI) number of the economic operator which will be used for the advance cargo information filing is registered,” the power bloc said.

“The deployment window, if granted, allows the economic operators to become operationally ready for ICS2 Release 2 after 1 March 2023.

”However, to ensure a smooth transition from Release 1 to Release 2, and to facilitate trade operations, the deployment window for each business model and the order in which different types of economic operators connect to ICS2 Release 2 will be aligned across all member states, as defined in the relevant transition strategy. Member states can grant the deployment window up until 2 October 2023.

“If economic operators are not ready by the set deadline, and do not provide the data required under the ICS2 system, consignments and freight will be stopped at the EU borders and the goods in question will not be cleared by the customs authorities.”

REQUIREMENTS FOR OPERATORS

According to the EU, operators are to ensure that the subset of the entry summary declaration (so called pre-loading advance cargo information — also known as “PLACI”) must be provided before the goods are loaded onto the aircraft bound for the EU, to enable customs to detect immediate threats to aviation security.

“With ICS2 Release 2, from 1 March 2023, air cargo general consignments will be also subject to the PLACI filing and to the complete set of data of the entry summary declaration (ENS) prior to their arrival,” it explained.

“The filing can be provided in one single complete ENS filing, if all the necessary data is available to the party that files and assumes the responsibility for bringing the goods into the European customs territory.

“Alternatively, it can be done with multiple filings, where more than one partial ENS filings are submitted by different actors in the supply chain. In case of multiple filings, each filer is responsible for ensuring that their own filings are submitted in a timely, accurate and complete way.

“However, it is the responsibility of the air carriers to work closely with their contracting parties, and the responsibility of the latter parties to work with their clients in the supply chain, in order to ensure that all ICS2 ENS filing requirements are met.”

It said operators must verify that their system is compatible with the ICS2 business processes and filing requirements and go through the mandatory self-conformance testing procedure.

The EU, therefore, added ICS2 Release 3 will include maritime, rail and road modes of transport from 1 March 2024.