CBP Set for Fully Automated Quota Allocation, Messaging on July 23 ACE Deadline, Officials Say
As CBP moves quota filing into ACE on July 23, the biggest changes seen by the trade community will be a fully electronic submission process and the automation of quota allocation and messaging, CBP officials said during a webinar June 28. Gone will be the days of time-stamped paper, at least for filers who submit quota data electronically in ACE entry summaries and imaged documents. The ACE system, not entry and import specialists, will automatically set presentation dates and, with certain exceptions, allocate quota amounts and message filers accordingly, the officials said during the webinar, which expanded on transition procedures recently outlined by CBP (see 1606270028).
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Filers will use the “exact same entry summary data stream” they are supplying right now in ACE, submitting it under a quota entry type and supplementing with supporting documents subsequently submitted through the document imaging system (DIS), said Brian Lewandowski of CBP’s ACE Business Office. System validations will be in place to notify filers when merchandise may potentially be subject to quota, with ACE also handling routine unit of quantity conversions like textile square meter equivalent to weight, he said. A query feature available in the legacy Automated Commercial System will still be available in ACE, allowing filers to check quota fill status, and filers will still be able to contact ports if questions arise about a given quota, said Lerone Faison, quota capability owner at the ACE Business Office.
Quota consumption entries, but not warehouse withdrawals, will have to be certified from summary in ACE, with both cargo release and entry summary filed at the same time, Faison said. If CBP accepts the entry summary but rejects the entry, only the entry will have to be refiled. Similarly, a situation in which CBP rejects only the entry summary would require refiling only of the entry summary, he said.
ACE will automatically consider the presentation date for quota consumption entries to be the point that all three of the following have occurred: the entry summary has been accepted, the shipment has arrived and the filer has scheduled payment (i.e., not the scheduled date of payment itself, but the moment at which the filer told CBP it plans to pay on a given date), Faison said. For warehouse withdrawals, where the merchandise has presumably already arrived, the presentation date will be set at the point when the entry summary has been accepted and payment has been scheduled.
CBP will automatically message filers with their prorated quota allocations after three days for quotas exceeded at opening moment, Faison said. The three-day period will allow CBP to resolve any filing issues that may have arisen in connection with the opening moment and prevented an "opening moment" presentation date, said Melba Hubbard, CBP’s branch chief for quota. Should filing issues prevent a quota entry from being accepted as the quota opens, filers should contact CBP during the three-day period to get the agency looking at the issue, Hubbard said. The first quota opening in ACE will be Oct. 3 for sugar, said Faison, who urged filers to participate in certification environment testing of opening moment procedures that will run beyond July 23.
CBP has said it will consider any quota entries accepted between 12 midnight local time and 12 noon Eastern Standard Time on opening day as having a presentation time of opening moment. Incomplete quota entries missing any combination of the accepted entry summary, arrival and scheduled payment date will be considered “pending,” and will not receive the same treatment, Hubbard said.
As it has with previous ACE deadlines, CBP will set up a war room that will run for two weeks after July 23, Lewandowski said. The entity will include a “cross-section” of CBP port personnel, inspector, entry specialists, import specialists and technical staff. For any issues that arise July 23, importers should go to their local ports, national account manager or CEE, and filers should contact their client representatives. CBP will create tickets for any issues that can’t be resolved at that level, and will take any policy questions to headquarters, he said.