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AIR
7 SEAS
NEWS - for Food Exporter/Importers
Beginning on the 12th
of December the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will implement two new
requirements:
- All processors of food, manufacturers of food,
packers of food, or companies that hold food for human or animal consumption
must register with the Food and Drug Administration.
- The FDA will require prior notice of arrival
for imported shipments.
The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration will refuse entry for any shipments that do not comply with the
above.
The registration should be done
as soon as possible. AIR 7 SEAS
must be notified of an import shipment within 5 days prior to the arrival so
that we may submit the necessary information to the FDA while our we are
updating the program to comply with prior notification.
Registration applies to all
companies, domestic or foreign. Each manufacturing facility must register. So
all of your manufacturers must register. This
is not the exporter, but the actual manufacturer of the product. If the
shipments come from more than one manufacturer, or the manufacturer has more
than one location, each location (facility) must register.
This is a simple process and can be done on the Internet at www.fda.gov
. The manufacturing facility will be assigned a number, and that number
must appear on the export invoice.
Also, each facility that holds
food must register. If you import,
and have a warehouse, you must also register.
If the manufacturers do not have access to the Internet, they can register by mail to FDA. If you need any further help, please do not hesitate contacting AIR 7 SEAS
During the initial phase, CBP and FDA will generally focus their collective enforcement resources on informed compliance and educational initiatives rather than enforced compliance in order to achieve voluntary compliance with the PN reporting requirements of the BTA. This means that as long as a "BTA Hold" has not been placed against a shipment of imported food, it may be released from CBP custody even if no PN was provided to FDA or the PN provided is considered inadequate by FDA.
During the intermediate phase(s), CBP and FDA will continue educating the public and the trade community about the PN reporting requirements of the BTA, but will also begin making targeted informed compliance efforts and issuing penalties to egregious violators. During this phase, CBP will still process and release most shipments of imported food products that violate the PN reporting requirements, provided that a "BTA Hold" has not been placed against the shipment by NTC/FDA.
Link to FDA's appropriate web page for Registration