HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - The budget environment will force the move to Automated Commercial Environment whether industry feels completely ready or not, said CBP’s Executive Director of the ACE Business Office Cindy Allen, speaking at the National Association of Customs Brokers and Forwarders of America conference April 25. As previously announced, the funding may be used up by next year, forcing the agency to make difficult choices on continuing to use certain pre-departure information systems, she 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.
Customs and Border Protection's Office of Information and Technology said it assembled a list of companies/persons offering data processing services to the trade community for the Automated Broker Interface (ABI). It said inclusion on the list doesn't constitute any form of an endorsement by CBP about the nature, extent or quality of the services that may be provided.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection's ACEopedia for July 2012 adds additional information on the process improvements created by ACE to date. A new listing of those improvements is the largest change from the previous ACEopedia.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection plans to begin a test of the Document Image System (DIS), said a April 6 Federal Register Notice that provided details of the test's first phase. The test will allow importers and brokers that use the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) to file certain government forms through the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection plans to conduct a National Customs Automation Program (NCAP) test allowing Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) participants to submit official documents via the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). Importers and Brokers will be allowed to submit CBP and specified Participating Government Agency (PGA) forms to CBP in an Extensible Markup Language (XML) format, in lieu of conventional paper methods. The test will be known as the Document Image System (DIS) Test. Only importers or brokers using ACE for entry summary files will be eligible to participate. DIS document submission rules are on page five, and a list of documents supported within the first phase of the test are on page six. The document doesn't mention the DIS "Export Manifest" pilot.
The September 29, 2012, cutoff date for use of Automated Manifest System/Automated Commercial System (AMS/ACS) will affect non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOCCs), terminal operators, port authorities and other entities that receive secondary party notifications in addition to master vessel operator common carriers (MVOCCs). As of Sept. 29, 2012, Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) will be the only acceptable electronic data interchange (EDI).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted an Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) review on e-Manifest: Trucks. It provides information on how to store account information in the ACE, mandatory exemptions, submitting an e-Manifest, in-bond shipment information, etc.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has set the deadline to cutover to the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) e-Manifest: Rail and Sea (M1) for the submission of required advance information for ocean and rail cargo. In its public notice, CBP said it recently completed the testing of ACE M1, and, after a six-month transition period, ACE will be the only CBP-approved EDI for such information as of September 29, 2012.
Automated Commercial Environment Reports wasn''t available for three hours beginning 9 PM EST on March 27, 2012. Any reports scheduled to run during this time were scheduled after ACE Reports goes back on line.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection wants all parties to start filing Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) entry summaries immediately to take full advantage of new capabilities and benefits that will become available in ACE. All new functionality that is being deployed will be available only in ACE and not in the Automated Commercial System (ACS), CBP officials told a seminar hosted by the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America. CBP states that use of the PGA Message Set, Document Image System (DIS), and Simplified Entry capabilities will require filing of an ACE entry summary.