eManifest is the 3rd phase of the Advance Commercial Information (ACI) initiative. It introduced the electronic advance cargo and conveyance information for carriers in highway and rail modes. In addition, the electronic transmission of advance secondary data (House bill and House bill Close Message) will be required from freight forwarders. Importers and/or their brokers will eventually have the ability to electronically submit the advance importer data, and will also introduce multimodal cargo reporting in air and marine modes. Therefore, eManifest is the next phase of the overarching ACI initiative.

In terms of consolidations, in Air and Marine modes, air and ocean carriers were responsible for the submission of electronic supplementary reports since 2006. Presently, freight forwarders are able to submit electronic house bills. As House bills become mandatory for import and in bond movements, the electronic supplementary reports will no longer be required for those movements, but freight forwarders will be required to submit supplementary reports for Freight Remaining on Board (FROB) and for In-Transit Export cargo.

ACI/eManifest significantly expands the original ACI/Supplementary reports requirement. The original ACI/Supplementary reports will still be required for freight remaining on board (FROB). The filing requirement for the different movement types are as follows:

Original ACI/Supplementary Reports

- for FROB cargo going to Canada