CBP has not formally recommended any change to the planned mandatory use date for Automated Commercial Environment cargo release and entry summary filing, said Brenda Smith, CBP assistant commissioner for the Office of International Trade. "We have not made a formal recommendation to the White House today," said Smith in a July 30 interview. The top lobbyist for the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America recently said CBP has gone to the White House with a recommendation to extend the Nov. 1 deadline by as much as six months, and is currently awaiting a response (see 1507290016).
Automated Commercial Environment (ACE)
The Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) is the CBP's electronic system through which the international trade community reports imports and exports and the government determines admissibility.
CBP may be moving toward pushing back the Nov. 1 mandatory use date of the Automated Commercial Environment for electronic entry summary and cargo release filing, said Jon Kent, a lobbyist for the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association. Kent spoke during an NCBFAA webinar on July 28. The NCBFAA and others groups told CBP in recent months that the planned ACE timeline may not allow for sufficient testing by industry and the government and that more time is needed (see 1507170020).
CBP updated the Automated Commercial Environment and Automated Commercial System to allow for Generalized System of Preference duty-free claims on July 29, the agency said in a CSMS message (here). The renewed GSP became effective on that date, meaning CBP is now accepting new GSP claims and will soon begin refund processing for GSP claims submitted after it expired in 2013 (see 1507210023).
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is soliciting participants for its pilot of the ATF partner government agency message set in the Automated Commercial Environment, it said in a notice (here). Beginning on Aug. 19, the pilot will allow importers and customs brokers to submit ATF-required data elements, including program codes, category type codes, ATF category code, type codes and exemption codes, to CBP through ACE. CBP will then electronically transmit entry and release information to ATF. Requests to participate from importers and brokers may be submitted at any time before or during the pilot to Willliam Majors at William.Majors@atf.gov.
CBP made some changes in its draft Automated Commercial Environment business process document (here). CBP recently posted a first draft last month and requested industry comments (see 1505180010). The processes document is expected to function as the "cornerstone" for both the trade and port personnel (see 1504270018).
CBP will again allow for duty-free processing Generalized System of Preferences claims through the Automated Commercial Environment and Automated Commercial System beginning at 7 a.m. on July 29, the agency said. (here). The program was recently renewed after a multi-year lapse and CBP released guidance on procedures for past and future GSP claims (see 1507210023).
CBP takes seriously the recent industry requests for revisions to the agency's timeline for requiring use of the Automatic Commercial Environment, an agency spokeswoman said. "CBP is aware of requests from the trade community to modify the approach to implementing mandatory filing of electronic entries and entry summaries in ACE on November 1, 2015," said the spokeswoman. "We are continually evaluating the readiness of all our stakeholders to ensure we implement ACE in a manner that makes sense and maintains momentum."
Industry pressure is growing for CBP to soften its deadline for Automated Commercial Environment entry summary and cargo release, as concerns grow over the readiness of the trade community for Nov. 1. On the heels of a letter from Trade Support Network leadership asking CBP to delay ACE requirements for some capabilities, other industry groups, including the Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC), are considering their own courses of action, with some already coming out in favor of a delay.
Automated Commercial Environment capabilities for quota validation and mail, passenger and pipeline entry processing are now available in ACE as of July 11, said CBP in an update on ACE Deployment E (here). The agency also said ACE capabilities for remote location filing, a single pay option, entry type 52, and entry summary types 51 and 52 will be available in ACE on Aug. 8. The capabilities were originally scheduled for production on June 27, but CBP postponed parts of the deployment due to issues with ACE air manifest (see 1506290018).
CBP took several steps to help resolve some worries over industry's readiness for the planned Nov. 1 transition date to Automated Commercial Environment after an agency survey found concerns, CBP said. CBP outlined some of its recent work on the subject as part of a broad outline of the survey results (here). Industry leaders last month asked CBP to make some major changes to the ACE timeline because the risk of potential disruptions is too big (see 1506300016). Despite the worries, CBP found ACE users to be increasingly pleased with system operations, it said.