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Is My File Ready for the Filing?

See how much of an advance filing the shipment's documents already give - the ISF, FDA prior notice, ACAS, Canada's eManifest house bill or the EU's ICS2 entry summary declaration - element by element, and how to close the gaps.

You prepare advance filings for your clients, and most of the data for them sits in the documents the exporter and the forwarder send you. Before you key anything in, you want to know how much of the filing those documents support, and what you’ll have to chase.

Meet the shipment: a container of fresh bananas from Guayaquil, Ecuador, to Wilmington, Delaware. The exporter’s commercial invoice and the forwarder’s house bill of lading are in CargoLint as one shipment, and you have the Importer Security Filing and FDA prior notice to prepare.

“Which filings will CargoLint list for this shipment?”

The destination’s profile decides, and each filing row applies under its own condition. Six filings list their elements:

  • Importer Security Filing (ISF) - into the United States, when the goods move by sea.
  • Air Cargo Advance Screening (ACAS) - into the United States, when the goods move by air.
  • FDA prior notice - into the United States, when the HS codes on the documents match the FDA list. Bananas do, so this shipment has both the ISF and the prior notice.
  • Importer Security Filing (ISF-5) - for goods crossing the United States by sea whose first port of arrival is a US port, such as a container for Canada landed at a US port.
  • eManifest house bill - into Canada, for every shipment.
  • Entry summary declaration (ICS2) - into any EU member state, by every mode.

Other filings, such as the import declarations, the UK’s safety and security entry summary declaration and Mexico’s pedimento, are noted without elements. There is no row for the US entry summary; the invoice elements of 19 CFR 141.86 are checked on the invoice itself. A row whose condition does not hold sits behind Show N not needed for this shipment. A row whose condition reads a fact the documents do not give, such as an ISF on a file with no transport document, reads Cannot tell and lists no elements.

See Destination Profiles.

“Where do I see what my documents give the filer?”

Open the shipment and find the Expected Documents card. Filings sit under Filings and markings, each with a Filing chip, and the caption under the row’s label sums up its elements. For the bananas, the ISF reads “6 of 10 elements found on the documents, 4 not read from them”, and the prior notice “10 of 18 elements found on the documents, 8 not read from them”.

Click a row to expand it. Each element shows its label, the value read where there is one, and the paragraph of the regulation that names it: “Vessel name and voyage number · MSC ANNA, NA642R · 21 CFR 1.281(a)(17)(ii)”. A line under an element says where it was read from, what is missing, or why it is not read.

“What does each element tell me?”

Each element is one of the three the summary counts:

  • Found - the document it is read from gives it. An element read once shows its value; one read line by line, such as the HS codes or the countries of origin, shows none. Where two documents of the kind are in the file, each has to give it.
  • Missing - the document does not give it, in the words the field checks use: “Commodity HTSUS number is not on the invoice on line 2: the HS code reads 8708, fewer than six digits.” Or the document is not in the file: “No air waybill is in the file to read it from.”
  • Not read - CargoLint does not read it from the documents, and says why: “The filer gives this number; commercial documents do not carry it.” for the ISF importer of record number, or “The declarant, its representative and their EORI numbers are the filer’s.” for ICS2.

“Why are some elements left out?”

Some elements have a condition of their own. In the prior notice, the bill of lading number, the vessel and voyage and the container numbers apply by sea, and the air waybill number and flight number by air. The UN numbers on the eManifest and ICS2 apply when the documents mention dangerous goods, and ICS2’s seller and buyer are left out by air.

An element whose condition does not hold is left out, which is why the bananas’ prior notice counts 18 elements rather than 20. Where the facts cannot tell, the element is not read and says so: “Applies when the goods move by sea. No transport document is in the shipment.”

“The carrier’s master bill just arrived. Which bill does the filing read?”

The house. Filings read the lowest bill level: where a house bill is in the file, the masters of its kind are set aside for the elements, so the bill of lading number, the vessel and voyage and the containers come from the bill the forwarder issued. CargoLint reads the role from the bill’s own type; a bill that states none is read as it is. Add the master with Add documents: it is kept beside the house by its number, and the two are compared on the vessel, voyage, ports and containers.

See Consolidations: Master and House Bills and Transport Documents.

“Does a missing element hold anything up?”

No. A filing row stays a note whatever its elements say. It is never graded, a missing element shows as information rather than a warning, the card’s N missing pill counts missing documents only, and nothing on the card changes the shipment’s status. CargoLint does not file anything or check that a filing was made: the summary says how much of the filing the documents support.

To record that a filing is in hand, mark its row Acknowledged. It moves to Handled, and its elements still show what the documents give.

“How do I close the gaps?”

  • The document is not in the file - add it with Add documents on the shipment page. The shipment is checked again, and the elements are read from it.
  • A field is missing or wrong - open the document from the shipment’s Documents card, fill in or correct the field in the review editor, and click Approve & Save. The shipment is checked again. For an HS code, Find HS Code suggests codes from a description of the goods.
  • A fact is wrong or unknown - declare it on the card. The transport mode decides the ISF, ACAS and the elements that apply by sea or air, the dangerous-goods fact decides the UN numbers, and the transit countries decide the ISF-5. The prior notice follows the HS codes, which you correct on the invoice.
  • CargoLint does not read the element - it stays with the filer, like the importer of record number or the FDA product code.

See Working with Expected Documents and How to Review Documents.

What’s next

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