CBP to extend Remote Location Filing to overseas companies

Published 26 March 2007

System permits importers and brokers to file electronic manifests from locations other than the port of arrival; China, Brazil, and South Korea to be the first foreign countries to participate

Here is some good news for Art Vandelay, the imaginary importer-exporter created by Seinfeld character George Costanza. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) last week announced that it was moving forward in its efforts to make the Remote Location Filing (RLF) system permanent and extend access to parties outside the United States. RLF, readers may know, allows approved importers and brokers to file electronic entries from a location within the United States other than the port of arrival or location of examination. Foreign companies presently have the right to do so too, but the paper-based system is cumbersome, and so under the proposed expansion would be granted the right to use prototype electronic systems in place for American companies since 1995. CBP expects large interest in the program and China, Brazil, Honduras, and South Korea are expected to be the first on board. Presently, 248 ports worldwide are RLF-operational — meaning that they are linked to the system’s networks — and CBP says that it will consider installing it in even more if demand requires it.