Under 21 CFR Part 123, US importers of seafood must either have and implement a HACCP plan that addresses hazards in the imported product, or rely on affirmative steps — such as supplier verification, lot-by-lot testing, or third-party audits — to ensure that the foreign processor's controls are equivalent. Importers bear responsibility for the safety of the product and cannot simply rely on foreign government certification alone.

The US International Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce maintain public records of all active antidumping and countervailing duty orders, searchable by product and country of origin. For seafood, the scope language in each order is critical — shrimp orders, for example, define covered merchandise by species, processing method, and size, so importers should review the specific scope and, when uncertain, request a scope ruling from Commerce before importing.