CBP said it's working on revising its regulations to centralize and automate its single transaction bond process, said Paula Connelly, a trade lawyer based in Burlington, Mass. Connelly attended a June 27 meeting on the single transaction bond process at the Port of Boston, which officials said is one of a series of CBP port visits to gather feedback from the trade on its plan to centralize the STB process. Bruce Ingalls, director of CBP’s Revenue Division, hopes to see implementation of the centralized system by the summer of 2014, Connelly said.
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 plans to hold a webinar at 2 p.m. June 20 to update the trade on the benefits of the Centers of Excellence and Expertise and trade transformation, the agency said in a CSMS message. The webinar will feature Maria Luisa Boyce, senior advisor for private sector engagement from CBP’s Office of Trade Relations and Allen Gina, the assistant commissioner of CBP’s Office of International Trade, it said. The webinar also will share information on key programs related to security and trade facilitation including the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), Customs—Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT), and Importer Self-Assessment (ISA). Agency officials will also discuss the Base Metals Center of Excellence and Expertise and providing several key steps of the transition to the CEE.
A new funding strategy for CBP will allow for continued development of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), the agency said in the May version of its monthly update on ACE. ACE entered into an operations and maintenance phase in FY 2012 as it lacked the funds for further ACE development. CBP now says it and the Department of Homeland Security have developed a funding strategy "that gets us a good part of the way toward our goal of completing core trade functionality in ACE within approximately three years," it said. This new strategy "covers new development through FY 2014, and additional O&M cost reductions and internal funding sources are anticipated to cover FY 2015-2016 needs," said CBP. An agency spokeswoman didn't return a request for comment.
Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) software vendors provided some insight on the use of ACE products and best methods for communicating with CBP in a recent survey conducted and released by the Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations Trade Modernization Subcommittee. Among challenges cited by vendors in making the change to ACE, 48 percent of respondents listed customer interest while 43 percent named budget as an issue.
The Food and Drug Administration needs to do more to use the trusted trader model to manage food safety risks, said the American Association of Exporters and Importers. “Moving away from certifying individual transactions to certifying supply chains allows FDA and industry to focus supply chain security resources more effectively, thereby targeting high-risk operators and supply chains,” said AAEI in comments on FDA’s Jan. 16 preventative controls proposal (see 13010429). “Trusted traders are industry leaders in their respective trade as well as leaders in supply chain security and compliance,” AAEI said. “They represent low risk and should not be subjected to the same level or type of oversight as others not so designated.”
CBP posted a number of presentations and documents that the agency showed at a recent Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) conference. The conference, held May 21 in Baltimore, included several technical overviews of ACE progress and future plans. The agency is planning to require ACE filing for manifest and cargo release by the end of 2015 and will require filing everything through ACE by the end of 2016, it said in a presentation on the ACE Plan Forward (here).
Industry representatives commended the Senate customs reauthorization bill in its first formal hearing May 22, and said the bill’s provisions on intellectual property rights, the Automated Commercial Environment, the International Trade Data System and de minimis will go a long way towards facilitating trade. The bill -- S-662, the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act -- was introduced by Senate Finance Committee leaders Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, in March (see 13032906 for more on specific provisions in the bill).
CBP is beginning work on implementation of online bulletin notices of liquidation, and the elimination of posting at the customhouse, the agency said. The move is long-overdue and would make keeping up with liquidation easier for importers and service providers, said industry lawyers. The idea, which was suggested by a CBP Branch Chief, was one of four finalists for the government’s Securing Americans Value and Efficiency (SAVE) award. CBP has formed an implementation team that includes the official that came forward with the idea, said an agency spokeswoman.
CBP updated its list of its near and longer term priorities for development of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) in the April ACEopedia, a monthly CBP publication that provides updates on ACE progress. The agency document said work on three items, the Participating Government Agency (PGA) Message Set, corrections/deletions, and initial entry summary validations, will be completed by May 7. Those features, previously mentioned to be priorities, make up the first increment of its CBP's "agile" pilot programs.
The American Association of Exporters and Importers (AAEI) joined the chorus of customs groups asking for removal of AD/CVD section from the still-under-discussion House customs reauthorization bill, saying the section should be removed “so it does not slow down passage of this important legislation.”