APHIS Announces Updates to Invoke Certificate of Foreign Inspection and/or Treatment (PPQ Form 203) for Precleared Shipments

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has added air and maritime shipments of precleared commodities from Republic of Korea and maritime shipments from Chile to its APHIS Core Message Set for Certificates of Foreign Inspection and/or Treatment (PPQ Form 203, LPCO type code A07). This update is a follow-up to APHIS’ May 6, 2024, announcement, which announced this new functionality for air and maritime shipments of precleared commodities from Argentina and air shipments of precleared commodities from Chile and Thailand.

In addition, APHIS has begun issuing port reports and vessel reports to more efficiently process large volumes of precleared maritime shipments from Argentina and Chile. Recipients of precleared goods associated with vessel/port report shipments will receive the following message:

For brokers: ACE DIS has received this vessel report (port report). To allow CBP to view it as part of your entry and expedite clearance of your cargo, use LPCO type code A07 and provide the certificate number on the vessel or port report, using all letters, dashes, underscores, or any other characters given. If you have any questions, please contact the ACE ITDS Help Desk at 1-833-481-2102 or ace.itds@usda.gov.

Until fully implemented for all countries, APHIS will continue to accept signed, paper or electronic PPQ Form 203s and will allow importers of plant commodities to upload copies of signed PPQ Form 203s to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP’s) Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) using the Document Image System (DIS).

Please contact the help desk number or e-mail listed in the message if you have any questions about how you should report the information.