USDA Announces Update to APHIS Core Message Set Implementation

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced a two-stage enforcement of the APHIS Core message set  to allow trade to adjust to the data requirements.

Enforcement will be rolled out as follows:

  • January 25, 2021 -filers are required to submit message set data or disclaims for regulated products.  APHIS will maintain “warning” level HTS flagging.
  • March 15, 2021 -APHIS will fully enforce APHIS Core message set submission using “reject” severity flagging.

APHIS has advised that the phased approach is technical only, and that the requirement for submitting APHIS Core message set is in effect January 25, 2021. Filing the message set now will allow for problem areas and difficulties to be identified and resolved before “reject” severity flagging begins.

If you have any questions, please contact your Livingston account manager.