U.S. Customs and Border Protection has announced that the ACE Rail Manifest Implementation Guidelines have been updated to include the changes needed for Instruments of International Traffic (IIT) residue reporting.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted an Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Resource Contact Guide, which lists ACE topics and the appropriate e-mail address or phone number to contact for questions on those topics, as well as hours of operation.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:

A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Web site as of March 2, 2012, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. These messages are available by searching on the listed CBP message number at http://addcvd.cbp.gov.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a document providing answers to general questions on the Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) related to ACH debit, credit, and refunds. The ACH is an electronic payment option that allows participants to pay customs fees, duties, and taxes electronically, as well as receive electronic refunds. CBP offers three ACH options: (1) ACH Debit, which is available to ABI filers using statement processing and can be used to pay all customs, duties, taxes, and fees; (2) ACH Credit, which is available to anyone that clears formal entries on statements, and the company or filer is on ABI and statement processing; and (3) ACH Refund, which is available to anyone who has a taxpayer-assigned identification number, a U.S. bank account, and who expects to receive a refund from CBP.

On March 2, 2012, U.S. Customs and Border Protection advised the trade that the regular ACE Maintenance Window (Saturday 2300 EST - Sunday 0500 EST) might be extended Sunday, March 4, 2012 and, if needed, the extended window was scheduled from 5am EST - 6:30pm EST. CBP states that the extended ACE maintenance is now complete and ACE is up and running. (CSMS #12-000066, dated 03/04/12)

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted an Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) user guide on In-Bond Authorization for rail and sea carriers. With the deployment of ACE e-Manifest: Rail and Sea (M1), rail and sea carriers will have the ability to create a list of authorized Type 2 In-Bond users in their ACE Secure Data Portal Accounts. This functionality will allow the carrier to control who can obligate their Type 2 custodial bonds (CBP Form 301). Although carriers are not required to utilize this functionality, carriers who choose to control access to their bonds have the ability to indicate the specific ports and lengths of time a carrier or broker is authorized to obligate their bond.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued its February 2012 Trade Account Owner (TAO) Update, which features information on e-Manifest: Rail and Sea (M1) and other ACE-related topics. CBP encourages carriers to become certified in M1 as CBP soon expects to publish a Federal Register notice in March 2012 to make ACE the only CBP-approved EDI for rail and sea manifest transmissions, etc.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:

A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Web site as of March 1, 2012, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. These messages are available by searching on the listed CBP message number at http://addcvd.cbp.gov.