NOAA Fisheries published the final rule establishing the Seafood Import Monitoring (SIM) Program on December 9, 2016. This program establishes the reporting and record-keeping requirements for imports of certain seafood products and is intended to prevent illegal, unreported, unregulated, and/or misrepresented seafood from entering the United States. January 1, 2018 is the mandatory compliance date. SIM Program fact sheet can be found here.
This is the first phase of a risk-based traceability program. The importer of record is required to provide and report data from the point of harvest to the point of entry into the United States. This program impacts many varieties of fish. A list of the tariff numbers covered by the program can be found here.
Some of the data elements required for the SIM Program are:
- The International Fisheries Trade Permit Number (IFTP Number)
- Aquatic Sciences Fishery Information System (ASFIS) Alpha Code for the Species of Fish
- Various information on the:
- Harvesting or Producing Entity
- Lading, Wild Capture, or Aquaculture Harvest
- Importer of Record
Additional information on the SIM Program can be found here.
If you have questions on importing fish covered by the SIM Program into the United States, please contact the US Transition Team at transitionus@willsonintl.044d949.netsolhost.com or 1.800.315.1918, option 4.