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Spotlight PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 The EU e-invoicing mandate is here — France Sept 2026, Belgium Jan 2026, Germany 2025.

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Foundations

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Standards

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Flagship messages

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Tools

X12 309 — Customs Manifest

The 309 transmits a customs import manifest to CBP — the import counterpart of the 352 export — for ocean, rail, and truck flows entering the United States.

Purpose

The 309 is the primary EDI instrument of the ACE Cargo (Automated Commercial Environment) import program: it carries the manifest data of inbound conveyances — voyage / itinerary, containers, bills of lading, shipper / consignee, HTS commodity description.

It is mandatory before arrival under 19 CFR 4 (ocean), 19 CFR 122 (air), 19 CFR 123 (truck). Acknowledged by 997 and by 355 (CBP Acceptance/Rejection). A 309 → 355 → 350 chain describes the filing, the decision, and the hold/release status.

Envelope structure

The 309 travels within the three X12 envelope levels (ISA/IEA, GS/GE with functional group CM, and ST/SE). Didactic example in release 004010:

x12 example-309.x12 
ISA*00*          *00*          *ZZ*OCEANCARRIER  *ZZ*USCBPACE       *260514*1300*U*00401*000000309*0*P*>~
GS*CM*OCEANCARRIER*USCBPACE*20260514*1300*1*X*004010~
ST*309*0001~
M10*OCEAN LINES*B*9876543*WEST*MV PACIFIC*S*20260514~
P4*USLAX*20260520~
N9*MA*MAN-2026-LAX-0098~
LX*1~
N7*MSCU*4501230*22G1~
M7*MSCU SEAL 887766~
N9*BM*BL-2026-LAX-0098~
N1*SH*ASIA EXPORTERS*92*EXPORT-CN-001~
N1*CN*US IMPORTERS*92*IMPORT-US-001~
SE*12*0001~
GE*1*1~
IEA*1*000000309~

Common segments

  • Header — ST, M10 (Manifest Identifying Info), P4 (Port).
  • Conveyance — voyage / vessel name in M10.
  • Manifest — N9*MA (Manifest reference), N7 (Equipment), M7 (Seal), N9*BM (BL).
  • Parties — N1*SH (foreign shipper), N1*CN (US consignee).
  • Commodity — LX repeated to describe commodities, N9*HT for HTS.
  • Summary — SE.

Common pitfalls

  • 24-hour rule (ocean): the 309 must be filed 24h before loading at the foreign port for ocean; late filing triggers a Do Not Load (DNL) on the CBP side.
  • Master vs House BL: a manifest with a master BL must point to house BLs (NVOCC); without that hierarchy, intermediate consignees are invisible to CBP.
  • Valid foreign shipper: shipper and consignee must comply with CBP business rules; a generic 'TO ORDER' forces a manifest with a FROB (Freight Remaining On Board) qualifier.

Documentation

The code 309 and the name Customs Manifest are public and listed on x12.org/products/transaction-sets. The complete structure of loops, qualifiers and code lists is distributed by DISA via the proprietary Implementation Guides (TR3). ediverse.io covers only public concepts, the envelope and didactic examples.