ISF filing: deadlines, data and penalties.

What an ISF is, and which shipments need one

An Importer Security Filing, called an ISF or "10+2", is a set of facts about your shipment that U.S. Customs and Border Protection wants before the cargo is loaded onto a ship. CBP uses it to decide which containers to look at more closely. The rules live in 19 CFR part 149.

It is not your customs entry. It pays no duty, and it happens weeks before the entry does.

It covers cargo arriving in the United States by vessel. Air, truck and rail imports do not need one. A full container and a few pallets of shared space both do, and so does cargo headed for a foreign trade zone. Bulk cargo exempt from the 24 hour cargo declaration rule is exempt here too, and exempt break bulk files on a different clock, 24 hours before arrival in the United States (19 CFR 149.4).

Most importers file the ten element version, the ISF-10. A shorter five element version covers cargo that is only passing through, below.

The deadline, worked through

The filing is due no later than 24 hours before the cargo is laden aboard the vessel at the foreign port (19 CFR 149.2). Two words carry the weight: laden, not sailed, and foreign port, so the clock runs on local time where the box is loaded.

Here is what that looks like on a booking. Your supplier's container is scheduled to load on Tuesday at 10am local time at the port of loading. Your ISF is due Monday at 10am local time at that port. Not Monday at 10am in Arizona, and not 24 hours before the vessel sails, which can be a day or more after loading.

Aim to file two or three days ahead. Vessels get pulled forward and cut off times move, and a typo you find on Friday is a small problem.

Different elements have their own timing inside the rule:

The ten importer elements, in plain words

Each element is a name and address or a number. The third column is where the answer usually comes from.

Elements 5, 7 and 8 have to be linked line by line, so each product carries its own manufacturer, origin and classification. The filing is made at the lowest bill of lading level, which means the house bill when there is one.

Not sure how a product classifies? Say so early. Our shipper tools walk through the ten elements so you can see which answers you already have.

The two carrier elements, and the ISF-5

The "+2" belongs to the ocean carrier, not to you. You do not file these and you are not liable for them.

• Vessel stow plan (19 CFR 4.7c): a map of what is loaded where, with the vessel name and IMO number and, per container, the equipment number, size, stow position and the ports of loading and discharge. CBP must have it within 48 hours of the vessel leaving the last foreign port.
• Container status messages (19 CFR 4.7d): tracking events the carrier already creates, such as booking confirmed, gate in and gate out, loaded, and vessel departure and arrival.

The ISF-5 covers cargo that is not being entered here: foreign cargo remaining on board, and in bond moves filed as immediate exportation or transportation and exportation. It asks for the booking party, the foreign port of unlading, the place of delivery, the ship to party and the HTSUS number.

Who files it, and the bond behind it

The rule puts the duty on the ISF Importer, the party causing the goods to arrive within the limits of a U.S. port by vessel. For a normal import that is the owner, purchaser or consignee, which usually means you. An agent may transmit the filing for you, and that is how it usually happens, but the responsibility does not move with it (19 CFR 149.1).

Agents must hold a power of attorney, keep it in English until it is revoked, keep revoked powers and revocation letters for five years, and produce them to CBP on request (19 CFR 149.5).

A bond has to stand behind the filing. Any one of these covers it: the basic importation and entry bond, a basic custodial bond, an international carrier bond, a foreign trade zone operator bond, or a standalone Importer Security Filing bond. If you do not hold one, the agent filing for you may post its own.

BGL is not a licensed customs broker and does not file your ISF itself. We gather the ten elements from you and your supplier, keep the timing tied to the real loading date, and coordinate the filing and the customs entry with a licensed customs broker.

Late, missing or wrong: what it costs

The money part is fixed. The bond condition at 19 CFR 113.62(j) sets liquidated damages of $5,000 for each violation. The same figure appears in the international carrier bond and in the standalone ISF bond. A late filing, a missing one and an inaccurate one can each draw it.

The cargo part costs more. If goods arrive with no ISF on file, CBP withholds release until it has the filing and has had a chance to review documents and examine the shipment. It also reserves the right to limit the permit to unlade, and cargo unladen without permission may be seized. CBP says non compliance can bring penalties, more inspections and delay, and a shipment with no filing can draw a message telling the carrier to leave the container on the dock at origin.

Then the meter starts. A held container sits at the terminal past its free days, so demurrage runs, and the box runs up detention once it is out. Add the exam fee, the drayage to and from the exam site, and the warehouse appointment you miss. The line by line quote guide shows where each of those lands on an invoice.

A supplier email checklist

Almost every late ISF traces back to one missing answer from overseas. Ask for all of it when you place the order. Paste this into the email:

1. Full legal name and street address of the factory, not only the trading company.
2. Full legal name and address of the seller, if that is a different company.
3. Country of origin for every item on the order.
4. A description of each product good enough to classify it, with material and use.
5. Name and address of the place where the container will be stuffed.
6. Name and address of the party who will stuff it or arrange the stuffing.
7. Booking details as soon as they exist: vessel, voyage, port of loading, document cut off and the planned loading date.
8. The house bill of lading number once the booking is confirmed.
9. A standing request: tell us right away if the factory, the origin or the stuffing location changes.

How the ISF sits next to your customs entry

They are two separate filings with different timing, and the second one is where money changes hands.

• ISF: before the cargo is loaded overseas. It answers who, where and what.
• Entry: after arrival, within 15 calendar days after landing, or after arrival at the port of destination for in bond cargo. Goods not entered in time go to general order, and storage there is expensive.
• Entry summary: if it is not filed at the time of entry, it is due with estimated duties within 10 working days after the time of entry.

The two can travel together. Under 19 CFR 149.6, an ISF can go in the same transmission as entry data, but only from an importer acting for itself or a licensed customs broker. Then the importer of record number, consignee number, country of origin and the ten digit HTSUS number are given once and used for both.

Duty, the merchandise processing fee and the harbor maintenance fee belong to the entry, not to the ISF. Who pays them is set by the terms on your purchase order, which the Incoterms guide covers. More of these are in the guides hub.