On December 31, 2019, in Cargo Systems Messaging Service (CSMS) #41149692, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued guidance for claiming preferential treatment under the U.S. Japan Trade Agreement.

Eligible entries must have a country of origin and a country of export of Japan, and the special program indicator (SPI) “JP” must be placed before the eligible tariff number to claim the preferential treatment.

The Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) will accept the new SPI beginning January 14, 2020.  For entries from January 1, 2020 through January 13, 2020, importers must pay duties initially and file a post summary correction after the SPI is available for use.

Questions can be directed to fta@cbp.dhs.gov.

CSMS #41149692 can be found here:

https://content.govdelivery.com/bulletins/gd/USDHSCBP-273e4fc?wgt_ref=USDHSCBP_WIDGET_2?utm_source=google&utm_medium=google&utm_term=(not%20provided)&utm_content=undefined&utm_campaign=(not%20set)&gclid=undefined&dclid=undefined&GAID=340499347.1568239941

The text of the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement can be found here:

https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/japan-korea-apec/japan/us-japan-trade-agreement-negotiations/us-japan-trade-agreement-text