Industry News
CBP Releases Panama Trade Promotion Agreement System Requirements
TweetOctober 26, 2012
On October 23, 2012, U.S. Customs and Border Protection released a CSMS message providing instruction for filing a Panama Trade Promotion Act (TPA) claim in ACS (EI). The Free Trade Agreement between the U.S. and Panama was signed into law in the United States on October 21, 2011 and goes into effect October 31, 2012. Since system changes have not yet been completed in ACS, Panama TPA claims should not be filed through ACS (EI) or ACE (AE) until CBP announces these changes to the system have been finished.
In order to claim TPA benefits, the following system requirements must be met:
- The country of origin or the country of export must be ‘PA’.
- The tariff number associated with the Panama TPA claim must contain the special program indicator ‘PA’. The tariff number with the Panama TPA indication may either be free or a reduced rate. If the rate is reduced, the duty rate will be indicated in the special rate field with the ISO code of ‘PA’.
In addition, the message stated once the agreement goes into effect, Panama will no longer qualify for GSP Benefits (SPI ‘A’), CBERA (CBI) Benefits (SPI E), and CBPTA (SPI ‘R’) Benefits. CBP also noted that Panama TPA claims are exempt from merchandise process fees, and that the following tariff numbers are subject to quota:
- 9822.09.17 – 9822.09.20
- 9919.02.01
- 9919.04.10 – 9919.04.12
- 9919.04.40 – 9919.04.41
- 9919.04.50 – 9919.04.58
- 9919.21.10 – 9919.21.11
