CBP Informed Compliance Publication: "Mitigation Guidelines ICP: Softwood Lumber" (2020)
4. Negligence. If the breach resulted from negligence, the claim may be canceled upon payment of an amount between $100 and $250 per default actually assessed, depending on the presence of aggravating or mitigating factors. For example, if a document is filed 100 days late, Customs, by policy, will generally limit the assessment to $10,000. Mitigation will be based on the $10,000 actual assessment and not relate to the $100,000 potential assessment.
5. Intentional Breach. If the breach was intentional, no relief shall be granted.
6. Violator disclosing violation before Customs discovery. If the violator comes forward and discloses the violation to Customs prior to Customs discovery of the violation, whether or not the violation is a continuing one, the claim for liquidated damages may be cancelled, at the discretion of the appropriate Customs officer, upon payment of the amount of $50.
E. Cancellation of claims for late payment of the annual fee.
1. If the late payment resulted from clerical error or mistake, the claim may be canceled upon payment of the amount due but not paid.
2. If the late payment resulted from negligence, cancel upon payment of the amount due but not paid plus the following percent of that amount for each day payment is in arrears:
a. First seven calendar days - not less than one-third of one percent nor more than three-fourths of one percent per day.
b. Second seven calendar days - not less than one and one-third percent nor more than one and three-fourths percent per day.
c. After the fourteenth calendar day - not less than two and one-third nor more than two and three-fourths percent per day.
3. If the late payment was intentional, no relief shall be granted.
Fines, Penalties, and Forfeitures Officer that the information was not required or that the violation occurred solely as a result of Customs error the claim shall be canceled without payment.
The filing of NAFTA Reconciliations is now optional. Accordingly, the liquidated damages provisions in this section apply only to value, classification, and 9802 Reconciliations. They do not apply to NAFTA Reconciliations.
As described above and in the Federal Register notice of February 6, 1998, the flagging of an entry summary creates an obligation on the part of the importer to file a Reconciliation within the allotted time, covering the flagged issue(s) on that entry summary. This notice removes the obligation to reconcile NAFTA eligibility for entry summaries flagged for that issue. Each entry summary flagged for value, classification, and/or 9802 issues must be covered by a Reconciliation filed prior to the due date, 15 months from the earliest entry summary date of the underlying entry summaries. Up to 9,999 underlying entry summaries may be covered by a single Reconciliation. If any one of the underlying entry summaries' due dates has passed prior to Reconciliation filing, the entire Reconciliation is considered late. However, the importer and filer have discretion to determine which and how many entry summaries are grouped on a Reconciliation, regardless of the flagging method and timing involved in the original flagging of those entry summaries.
The obligation to file Reconciliations created by the flagging of entry summaries carries liquidated damages implications for failure to do so timely. Each flagged entry summary remains an independent entity until reconciled. Customs has no way of knowing which entry summaries will be covered by a single Reconciliation until one is actually filed. Once the Reconciliation has been filed, the universe of entry summaries covered by it is established. Moreover, the Reconciliation is an entry in its own right and has the same legal status as other Customs entries. For these reasons, late-filing and non-filing of Reconciliations will be dealt with using different mechanisms.