Customs rejected my SAM — which bills, and why?

Customs' reply to a SAM / SDM names most refused lines by number only. The first real refusal seen here refused 114 lines of a 795-line amendment and printed a bill number on two of them. So the reply alone cannot tell you which bills are refused, whose CSN each one rests on, or whether anything on the line is actually wrong. Explain this refusal does that work: every refused line is resolved to its bill on customs' public record and compared with the CSN it quotes.

Working with a shipping line filing covers the quicker first look — the reply laid over your own file's lines. This page is about the line-by-line reading against customs' record.

What does the reply itself tell me, before I ask for anything?

Open the ACK — the file ending _ACK.json — under Shipping line filing. The first thing under the verdict is What happened, and what to do: the whole reply read as one story rather than a list of codes. It tells you how many of the lines listed are really yours (a reply to an amendment lists the whole manifest, most of it empty), groups the codes that are one problem — 370 on a line and 118 on its house bills, 156 on containers and 153 on the vessel, 385 and 254 on a departure manifest whose shipping bills are already used, 749 and 306 on an amendment that addresses a line or container under a number customs does not hold it under, 748 on an item of a line that quotes an earlier declaration (such a line carries no items), 724 on a line an amendment removes without the CIN or CSN it quotes, 307 and its kin on an addition under a number already in use, 394 on a box added to the vessel's list under a number it already uses — and any code in no list worded like those — and gives numbered steps for each, with a line saying how sure the reading is. When the manifest is beside the reply, each line number opens that line. Working with a shipping line filing has the table of what it recognises.

That reading needs nothing but the file. Explain this rejection, below, goes further for the codes that are about a CSN (164, 232–238): it asks customs' public record which side differs.

How do I get a refusal explained?

Open the refused reply — on Shipping line filing, on SCMTR JSON upload, or on the vessel call's page — and press Explain this refusal. If you have the manifest the reply answers, add it; the reading works without it, from customs' record alone. The reading runs in the background and is listed under Rejections explained on the Shipping line filing page and on the vessel call. You are told when it finishes, in the app and — if you have not switched it off — by e-mail or on your phone.

Why does it ask me for a bill of lading first?

A refused reply does not say which accepted manifest it was judged against. SCMTR finds that manifest on customs' public record through any one bill that is on it. Usually it already knows one — from the reply, from the manifest you added, or from your own CSNs on the call. When none of those is on the accepted manifest yet, it asks you for the master bill of lading of any line customs has already accepted on that vessel — your own, or one from the line's arrival notice.

What can each refused line turn out to be?

What does "no difference found" tell me — and what does it not?

It tells you that on the fields compared — bill, bill date, total packages, number of containers and each container's details — the line and its CSN are the same on customs' own record. It does not tell you customs was wrong, that the line will be accepted next time, or that nothing else on the line is at fault: only those fields were compared. When every refused line reads this way, there is nothing on them that the comparison can tell you to correct, and the useful next step is the ICEGATE helpdesk with the evidence in hand.

What are the CSV and the evidence pack?

CSV — the whole table: line number, bill, what was found, both values where they differ, the codes customs gave. For your own working, or to hand the people who own the lines.Evidence pack — a printable page worded for the ICEGATE helpdesk: what was refused, what the comparison found, the tracking ids, and the table. It states what was compared and what was found; it does not assert a cause. Read it before sending — it goes out in your name.

Neither carries another filer's PAN, parties or goods: only the cross-checked fields and your own tracking ids.

When the file and every CSN its lines quote are on different rotations, the reading says so once, under the summary, rather than on every line: a CSN's VCN and rotation cannot be amended (ICES Advisory 37/2026), and customs has refused no line for quoting a CSN on another rotation. Check the file's own rotation and VCN against the call — a file that repeats an earlier manifest's bills under a new rotation reads exactly so, and the manifest editor says the same on opening.

Where a line differs from its CSN, Open a case with the other side starts a case from the reading, with the bills and the evidence already in it.

Can I check a whole manifest before I send it?

Yes. From an open manifest, Check the lines that quote a CSN compares every line that quotes one — by its CSN number and date, or by the PCIN / MCIN customs issued on it — with customs' record the same way, before anything is filed: the bill and its date, the reference the line quotes, packages and containers, and whether the CSN is still on the record. On a departure manifest (SDM) it compares against the export CSNs (SCX), and a straight export line quoting its shipping bill's PCIN counts as quoting. Each difference carries the same Fix / Check mark as above. Lines that do not agree are likely to be refused as they stand. A clean result means nothing compared differs today — a CSN can still be amended or deleted before your manifest goes, and the check does not mean customs will accept the manifest.

Why does it take minutes, not seconds?

Each line is several questions to customs' public enquiry, which is run for people clicking through a web page. SCMTR paces them so a large manifest never overloads it — a full ship is a few thousand requests — which is why the reading is a background job with a progress count rather than a page that loads.

Why was my amendment refused with 233 on lines I did not touch?

This has been seen once, in September 2026: a line amended one bill on an accepted manifest of nearly 800 lines; that bill passed every check; and customs refused the amendment with 233 on 114 other lines, each of which read "no difference found" against its CSN. Two explanations fit, and it is not yet known which is right: customs re-checks every CSN-referencing line whenever any amendment arrives, or the software that uploaded the amendment re-sent the whole manifest rather than the one line. Look first at which lines the file you actually uploaded carries. If it carried only your line, take the evidence pack to the ICEGATE helpdesk. See Amending a shipping line filing.

Related

ICEGATE error codes — 164, 232–238 and reading several codes at onceChecking a manifest against ICEGATEWhat is a vessel call page?

This page is for information. Customs decides what it accepts, and only its reply says what it decided — confirm anything that matters with customs or ICEGATE.