CUSTOMER ADVISORY

Dear Customer,

The European Union are making changes to their advance manifesting process “Import Control System” with their latest release of ICS2 aimed at the maritime industry. These changes will be relevant to all parties including shippers, freight forwarders, NVOCC’s and consignees and will require action from any party providing shipping instructions to the carrier.

Here is some brief information for your guidance and awareness:

The process of advance manifesting allows for pre-arrival safety and security checks that support effective risk-based customs controls whilst enabling the free flow of permitted trade. The third release of the ICS2 program focuses on cargoes arriving in the EU via the maritime industry and goes live on the 3rd of June 2024 (some carriers have obtained extensions to the deployment window so published commence dates may vary depending on source).

The new regulations will involve changes to the existing Entry Summary Declarations (ENS) that are submitted for all deep sea and short sea cargo that either discharges or tranships at EU member states as well as all cargo that remains on board, otherwise referred to as FROB (freight remaining on-board). Due to potential variances in vessel scheduling and the requirement for ICS2 clearance at most discharge ports, most carriers will apply these regulations to all Europe bound shipments regardless of destination including the United Kingdom.

Going forward, ICS2 will allow the ENS transmission from either the carrier, freight forwarder or consignee and shortly after its initial release, allow the filing of house bill of ladings (HBL). 

One of the most relevant changes is the implementation of house-level data filing and the EU Customs request on information about the Buyer and Seller of the cargo.

Customers will need to provide more detailed information for inclusion in the new ENS, some of the changes will involve the provision of:

• 6-digit HS Code for each commodity

• Complete and accurate cargo descriptions

• Detailed and concise Document Party addresses (*see note)

• EORI number for Consignee established in the EU (or EORI of the supplementary declarant)

• Buyer and Seller data for all cargo destined to the EU (not required for FROB cargo discharging outside of the EU)

*Note: ICS2 requires the following data elements for all shipment parties: (Shipper, Consignee, Notifies).

• Business Name

• Street Name Line 1 (mandatory unless PO Box is provided)

• Street Name Line 2 (optional)

• House Number (mandatory unless PO Box is provided)

• PO Box (mandatory unless House Number is provided)

• City (mandatory)

• Postal Code/ZIP (mandatory)

• Country (mandatory)

Carriers are currently in the process of adapting their systems to record the provided additional data elements for inclusion in their transmissions. ICS2 also introduces a new step in the approval process, upon successful transmission and approval of the ENS the declarant will receive a new status “Assessment Complete” (AS). Note that only cargo that has received this status can be loaded on board the carrying vessel.

Any cargo not loaded due to missing “Assessment Complete” status prior to commencement of vessel operations will be subject to possible demurrage costs.

Please ensure this information is included within your commercial documentation as we will be required to declare the same in our shipping instructions to the carrier.

We continue to monitor for additional information regarding the new requirements and timelines for implementation.

We strongly recommend that you prepare for the new regulations and ensure that you have all the necessary information required for the introduction of ICS2 as soon as possible.

You can find out more on the EU website via the link below:

Import Control System 2 - Release 3 - European Commission (europa.eu)

Please reach out to your Hensall Global representatives should you have any questions / concerns.

Sincerely,

HENSALL GLOBAL LOGISTICS