One of FDA’s many responsibilities is to review imported products regulated by the agency to determine admissibility. This job has become increasingly challenging with growing volumes of imports of FDA-regulated products each year — from six million import entries in 2002 to 35 million in 2015.
To help meet that challenge in a way that benefits both government and the trade community, import entries of products regulated by FDA are submitted through an electronic system called the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). A final rule published on November 29 in the Federal Register specifies certain data that must be submitted in ACE when an FDA-regulated product is offered for import into the United States. The effective date of the rule is December 29, 2016, 30 days from the date of publication.
The trade community helped us pilot ACE, which is operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), from August 2015 to May 2016. In July 2016, ACE became the sole CBP-authorized system for electronic submissions of entries that contain FDA-regulated products.
The rule also includes technical revisions to certain sections of FDA regulations:
- The owner or consignee of an FDA-regulated product is now defined as the importer of record. This brings FDA regulations up to date with previous revisions to customs laws. (21 CFR 1.83 and 21 CFR 1005.2)
- FDA will now directly provide a notice that an FDA-regulated product is to be sampled, rather than having to go through CBP to provide that notice. (21 CFR 1.90)
- FDA may now provide written notices electronically to the importer of record about FDA actions to refuse FDA-regulated products and/or subject certain drug products to administrative destruction. (21 CFR 1.94)
- The rule clarifies that FDA can reject an entry for failure to provide through ACE the complete and accurate information required by the rule.
As a result of the more streamlined import process for FDA-regulated products provided by ACE, the rule is expected to lead to an efficient use of FDA and importer resources, and more effective enforcement of laws and regulations enforced by FDA.