ACE 2.0 Test Proved Legitimacy of Chemical Shipments, Brand Integrity in E-Commerce
In its third ACE 2.0 test, run last month, CBP showed how an outside organization -- the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) -- can provide information to the EPA and CBP ahead of arrival, so that the government knows chemicals are legitimate.
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GLEIF provided the chemical importer an identifier, and then verified the legitimacy of the business.
This ACE 2.0 test also used GS1, a nonprofit, international organization that develops barcodes, to provide an attestation that goods that would be sent to individual consumers aren't counterfeit. In that part of the test, GS1 created a prefix license credential, which told CBP that a brand owner issued the license and showed what production company received the license. This is what CBP's Business Transformation and Innovation Division is calling a verifiable credential. To read a verifiable credential, the receiver has a unique ID that's protected by an encrypted key. If another company tried to use that credential, the system would detect the fraud attempt.
CBP said making this kind of system standard would increase confidence in the legitimacy of goods and improve consumer safety in e-commerce. The decentralized identifier enables automation of the chemical part of the test, reducing errors in processing.
These tests followed earlier ACE 2.0 tests for Canadian oil and Mexican steel (see 2403280042).
CBP said that these results inform its development of the ACE 2.0 effort, and CBP's request to Congress for what it wants in customs modernization legislation. The agency said that request is in the Office of Management and Budget Circular A-19 Legislative Coordination and Clearance Process.