ISA is a voluntary approach to trade compliance that originated from the passage of the Customs Modernization Act (Customs Mod Act) in 1993 as it ushered in an era of new partnership concepts between the importing community and the United States Customs Service (Customs and Border Protection - CBP). The program provides the opportunity for importers who have made a commitment of resources to assume responsibility for monitoring their own compliance in exchange for benefits. The ISA program offers benefits that can be tailored to industry needs and requires that importers demonstrate readiness to assume responsibilities for managing and monitoring their own compliance through self-assessment.

1 Purpose:

The ISA program is built on the knowledge, trust, and willingness to maintain an ongoing Customs and Border Protection (CBP)/importer relationship that is mutually beneficial to both parties. CBP’s goal is to partner with importers who can demonstrate their readiness to assume the responsibility to manage and monitor their compliance through self-assessment. Importers who are accepted into the ISA program receive tangible benefits, while allowing CBP to re-direct valuable resources to focus on high-risk and unknown importers.

2 Background:

The passage of the Customs Modernization Act (Customs Mod Act) in 1993 ushered in an era of new partnership concepts between the importing community and the United States Customs Service (Customs and Border Protection - CBP). Under the Mod Act, CBP and the importer share the responsibility for compliance with trade laws and regulations. The importer is responsible for using reasonable care when declaring the value, classification, rate of duty applicable to entered merchandise, and CBP is responsible for informing the importer of its rights and responsibilities under the law.

3 Program Overview:

The ISA program is a voluntary approach to trade compliance. It is built on knowledge, trust, and a willingness to maintain an ongoing CBP/importer relationship. The ISA program offers meaningful benefits that can be tailored to industry needs and requires that importers demonstrate readiness to assume responsibilities for managing and monitoring their own compliance through self-assessment.

http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/trade/trade_programs/importer_self_assessment/isa_hb.ctt/isa_hb.pdf