DOE has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) in which it proposes to require that a person importing into the United States any covered product or equipment subject to an applicable energy conservation standard provide, prior to importation, a certification of admissibility to the DOE for the covered product or equipment. The certification would be submitted to DOE through the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Automated Commercial Environment (ACE).
Importers of such covered products or equipment are currently required to submit annual certifications to DOE that the products or equipment they intend to import are compliant with all applicable energy conservation standards, using DOE’s Compliance Certification Management System (CCMS). Under DOE’s proposal, if an importer has already submitted its required certification report to DOE, the importer would provide a certification of admissibility with only the information necessary to tie the shipment back to its most recent CCMS submission. Any importer that has not already filed its required annual certification would be required to provide more detailed information regarding the covered product or equipment contained in the shipment.
DOE held a public meeting on February 19, 2016, regarding its proposal, and will accept comments, data, and information in response to the NOPR received no later than March 14, 2016.