CSMS Message: 00-001481

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.