For the people handling an importer's paperwork, sending data electronically and no longer keeping records are different changes. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, or TTB, published a final rule on December 22, 2016 offering an electronic alternative to relevant paper submissions to customs. It covered specified alcohol and tobacco imports and set December 31 for effectiveness. [2016-29201][2016-14359]

The option applied when importers filed entry or entry-summary data electronically with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It was an alternative route for the relevant TTB information, not a requirement to submit the same material both digitally and on paper. For a small importer, that distinction is a useful starting point for assessing work, but the documents do not measure staff time saved. [2016-29201][2016-14359]

TTB's June 21 proposal helps show what digitization retained. It proposed linking an electronic filing to the importer's basic-permit number so the filing could demonstrate the required permit. The final section 1.58 retained that linkage for covered imports and required the permit to remain available on request. The proposal supplies the administrative rationale; it was not an operative June requirement. [2016-29201][2016-14359]

Supporting certificates also remained significant. For distilled spirits imported in bottles, the final section 5.52 required copies of specified certificates to be retained for five years after removal from customs custody and supplied on request. That is not a universal rule for all alcohol or tobacco records. These same-chain documents support a change in submission method, not a finding that smaller businesses' overall burden or border delays had already fallen. [2016-29201][2016-14359]

Source documents

  1. Amendments To Streamline Importation of Distilled Spirits, Wine, Beer, Malt Beverages, Tobacco Products, Processed Tobacco, and Cigarette Papers and Tubes and Facilitate Use of the International Trade Data Systemhttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-12-22/html/2016-29201.htm
  2. Amendments To Streamline Importation of Distilled Spirits, Wine, Beer, Malt Beverages, Tobacco Products, Processed Tobacco, and Cigarette Papers and Tubes, and Facilitate Use of the International Trade Data Systemhttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-06-21/html/2016-14359.htm