• To : Automated Broker Interface
Subject: NAFTA DRAWBACK CHANGES TO 'JJ' APPLICATION FOR MEXICO
IN ORDER TO SUPPORT NAFTA DRAWBACK CLAIMS FOR EXPORTS TO MEXICO FOR       
JANUARY 1, 2001, CHANGES ARE BEING MADE TO THE ABI 'JJ' TRANSACTION       
(DRAWBACK).  THE CHANGES ARE AS FOLLOWS:                                  

1.  ALL REFERENCES TO 'CANADA' OR 'CANADIAN' HAVE BEEN CHANGED TO         
    THE GENERIC TERM 'NAFTA COUNTRY'. ALL ERROR MESSAGES HAVE BEEN        
    CHANGED TO REFLECT THE GENERIC TERM.                                  

2.  THE 'D11' RECORD OF THE 'JJ' TRANSACTION HAS BEEN MODIFIED TO ADD     
    A NAFTA DRAWBACK COUNTRY CODE IN POSITIONS 60-61.  THIS FIELD IS      
    REQUIRED TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN NAFTA DRAWBACK CLAIMS RELATING TO     
    CANADA AND NAFTA DRAWBACK CLAIMS RELATING TO MEXICO.  THIS FIELD      
    WILL CONSIST OF A VALID ISO CODE ('CA' FOR CANADA, 'MX' FOR MEXICO)   
    FOR A NAFTA COUNTRY.  IF THE CURRENT NAFTA CLAIM INDICATOR IN THE     
    'D10' RECORD IS A '1', THE 'D11' WILL BE REQUIRED AND POSITIONS       
    60-61 OF THE 'D11' MUST BE A VALID NAFTA COUNTRY ISO CODE.A NEW       
    ERROR MESSAGE, 'DLN', HAS BEEN ADDED, AND WILL OCCUR IF THE REQUIRED  
    'D11' RECORD IS NOT PROVIDED.  IF PROVIDED, BUT AN INVALID ISO CODE   
    OR A NON-NAFTA ISO CODE IS USED, ERROR MESSAGE 'DKK' WILL BE GIVEN.   

    **IMPORTANT NOTE** - INDIVIDUAL DRAWBACK CLAIMS CANNOT CONTAIN A      
                         MIX OF BOTH CANADA AND MEXICO EXPORTS.           
                         SEPARATE CLAIMS MUST BE FILED FOR CANADA AND     
                         MEXICO.  WHICHEVER COUNTRY IS DESIGNATED IN THE  
                         'D11' RECORD WILL BE ASSUMED TO BE THE COUNTRY   
                         FOR THE ASSOCIATED EXPORTS, AND ALL SYSTEM       
                         EDITS WILL BE PERFORMED ACCORDINGLY.             

3.  THE 'D50' RECORD EDITS ARE BEING CHANGED TO ACCOMMODATE THE POSSIBLE  
    USE OF ALPHA-NUMERIC MEXICAN IMPORT ENTRY NUMBERS.  ACCORDINGLY, IF   
    POSITIONS 60-61 OF THE 'D11' RECORD = 'MX', THE NAFTA COUNTRY IMPORT  
    ENTRY NUMBER PROVIDED IN POSITIONS 9-22 OF THE 'D50' RECORD MAY BE    
    ALPHA-NUMERIC IN FORMAT.  THE CURRENT EDITS FOR CANADA REQUIRING 14   
    NUMERIC DIGITS REMAINS UNCHANGED ('D11' POS. 60-61 = 'CA'). IF THE    
    FORMAT IS INCORRECT, OR IF ALL 14 CHARACTERS ARE NOT FILLED, ERROR    
    'DKL' ("INVALID NAFTA CTRY ENT NBR FORMAT") WILL BE ISSUED.           

    ****NOTE:  BASED UPON AGREEMENT WITH MEXICO, SHOULD MEXICO DECIDE TO  
               USE A 15 POSITION IMPORT ENTRY NUMBER, FILERS WILL DROP    
               THE FIRST DIGIT AND USE THE REMAINING 14 CHARACTERS.       

4.  REGARDING THE NAFTA COUNTRY TARIFF NUMBER IN POSITIONS 29-38 OF THE   
    'D50' RECORD, SHOULD MEXICO USE TARIFF NUMBERS OF LESS THAN 10        
    DIGITS, FILERS SHOULD ZERO FILL ANY REMAINING CHARACTERS TO THE FULL  
    10 DIGITS (EG - IF 'MX' TARIFF = '12345678', USE '1234567800').       

5.  ALL OTHER EDITS/VALIDATIONS REMAIN AS THEY ARE.  FOR MEXICO CLAIMS,   
    PLEASE BE SURE TO USE MEXICAN MONETARY AMOUNTS IN POSITIONS 51-62     
    OF THE 'D50' RECORD AND POSITIONS 43-54 OF THE 'D90' RECORD. PROVIDE  
    THE U.S. EQUIVALENT AMOUNTS FOR MEXICAN CURRENCY IN POSITIONS 63-74.  
    OF THE 'D50' RECORD AND POSITIONS 55-66 OF TH 'D90' RECORD.           

THE ABOVE CHANGES ARE EFFECTIVE FOR NAFTA DRAWBACK CLAIMS FOR EXPORTS TO  
MEXICO MADE ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2001.                                  


THE FOLLOWING DATA IS PROVIDED FOR THOSE FILERS/SOFTWARE VENDORS ALSO     
UTILIZING THE DISKETTE METHOD (IN ASCII FORMAT) OF DRAWBACK FILING:       

1. ALL REFERENCES TO 'CANADA' OR 'CANADIAN' HAVE BEEN CHANGED TO THE      
   GENERIC TERM 'NAFTA COUNTRY'. ALL ERROR MESSAGES HAVE BEEN RE-WORDED   
   TO REFLECT THE GENERIC TERM. THIS APPLIES TO BOTH THE MESSAGES         
   GENERATED VIA THE ACS PROGRAMS AND THOSE GENERATED BY THE DISKETTE     
   PROGRAM.                                                               

2. THE 'CH' HEADER RECORD OF THE DISKETTE PROGRAM (ASCII FORMAT) HAS      
   BEEN EXPANDED TO ADD A NEW FIELD FOR THE NAFTA DRAWBACK COUNTRY CODE   
   IN POSITIONS 131-132.  THE DATA WILL CONSIST OF A VALID NAFTA COUNTRY  
   ISO CODE ('CA' FOR CANADA, 'MX' FOR MEXICO) AND WILL BE REQUIRED IF    
   THE NAFTA CLAIM INDICATOR IN POSITION 43 OF THE RECORD = 'Y'. IF NOT   
   PROVIDED AS NEEDED, AN ERROR MESSAGE "NAFTA CLAIM: NAFTA CTRY DATA     
   REQD" WILL BE RETURNED BY THE DISKETTE PROGRAM.                        

   ****NOTE:  AS WITH THE ABI 'JJ' TRANSACTION, THE PROGRAM WILL ASSUME   
              THAT ALL SUBSEQUENT NAFTA INFORMATION PROVIDED IS FOR THE   
              COUNTRY GIVEN.  DO NOT MIX EXPORTS TO MEXICO AND CANADA ON  
              THE SAME CLAIM.                                             

3. THE 'CI' RECORD HAS BEEN MODIFIED FOR MEXICO TO PERMIT A MEXICAN       
   IMPORT ENTRY OF 14 ALPHA-NUMERIC CHARACTERS. IF POSITIONS 131-132 OF   
   THE 'CH' HEADER REORD = 'MX', THE PROGRAM WILL ACCEPT 14 ALPHA-        
   NUMERICS FOR THE MEXICAN IMPORT ENTRY.  THE FULL 14 CHARACTERS MUST    
   BE USED OR AN ERROR MESSAGE "NAFTA CTRY ENT NBR LENGTH MUST BE 14"     
   WILL BE ISSUED.  THE EDITS FOR CANADIAN IMPORT ENTRY NUMBERS REMAIN    
   UNCHANGED.                                                             

   *****NOTE: AS WITH THE ACS PROGRAM, SHOULD MEXICO DECIDE TO USE A 15   
              CHARACTER IMPORT ENTRY NUMBER, THE FIRST DIGIT SHOULD BE    
              DROPPED AND THE REMAINING 14 CHARACTERS REPORTED.           

4. REGARDING THE NAFTA COUNTRY TARIFF NUMBER IN POSITIONS 28-37 OF THE    
   'CI' RECORD, SHOULD MEXICO USE TARIFF NUMBERS OF LESS THAN 10          
   DIGITS, FILERS SHOULD ZERO FILL ANY REMAINING CHARACTERS TO THE FULL   
   10 DIGITS (EG - IF 'MX' TARIFF = '12345678', USE '1234567800').        

5. ALL OTHER EDITS/VALIDATIONS REMAIN AS THEY ARE.  FOR MEXICO CLAIMS,    
   PLEASE BE SURE TO USE MEXICAN MONETARY AMOUNTS IN POSITIONS 50-61      
   OF THE 'CI' RECORD AND POSITIONS 57-68 OF THE 'CT' RECORD. PROVIDE     
   THE U.S. EQUIVALENT AMOUNTS FOR MEXICAN CURRENCY IN POSITIONS 62-73    
   OF THE 'CI' RECORD AND POSITIONS 69-80 OF THE 'CT' RECORD.             


WE APOLOGIZE FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO PROVIDE MORE NOTICE ON THESE CHANGES,  
BUT SUFFICIENT INFORMATION FOR PROGRAMMING WAS ONLY VERY RECENTLY         
OBTAINED FROM MEXICO.                                                     

THE FULL VERSION OF THE SPECIFICATIONS FOR BOTH ABI AND THE DISKETTE      
DRAWBACK PROGRAMS WILL SHORTLY BE AVAILABLE VIA THE CUSTOMS WEBSITE,      
WWW.CUSTOMS.TREAS.GOV. GO TO IMPORTING & EXPORTING, EXPORTING, DRAW-      
BACK.  LIKEWISE, THE NEW VERSION OF THE ERROR MESSAGE DICTIONARY FOR      
DRAWBACK WILL ALSO BE PUBLISHED SHORTLY AT THE SAME WEBSITE LOCATION.     

QUESTIONS REGARDING THE ABI 'JJ' TRANSACTION SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO YOUR   
CLIENT REPRESENTATIVE.  QUESTIONS REGARDING THE DISKETTE PROGRAM MAY BE   
DIRECTED TO MR. JIM HALPIN AT 703-921-7128.