U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued its instructions for the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), which takes effect for qualifying goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after March 15, 2012. The notice gives an overview of the KFTA rules of origin, as well as instructions for handling "WCO tariff number" discrepancies. CBP also provides information on its process for verifying importer claims, the SPI "KR", post-importation claims and protests, etc.
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.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a document on the trade benefits from the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). ACE is the commercial trade processing system being developed to become the "single window" through which international traders will electronically provide all information needed by federal agencies for the import of cargo. CBP states that the benefits of ACE continue to grow as new capabilities are developed and deployed. The document lists the trade benefits based on functionality currently available in ACE and are organized by trade sector in addition to, in some cases, ACE Portal role.
The National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America, Inc., has posted the following U.S. Customs and Border Protection's presentation documents for the March 6-8, 2012 Trade Software Developer Technical Seminar. During the seminar, CBP officials will discuss programming changes for existing and new functionality scheduled to be delivered as part of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE).
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 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 posted a document providing an overview of reports in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). The document provides information on the different types of ACE reports, when the data in the ACE reports are refreshed, and the value of the reports from the importer, broker, and carrier perspectives. It also provides information on ACE report features, such as the ability to modify or fully customize a report, the use of queries, filters, etc. Report enhancements for e-Manifest: Rail and Sea (M1) and A2.3.2 are also provided. See overview document for details.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued another CSMS message announcing that it is still accepting registrations for its March 6-8, 2012 seminar at the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) meeting in Arlington, VA that will cover programming changes for existing and new functionality scheduled to be delivered as part of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). The seminar will target ocean and rail software developers and ABI software developers. Presentations will focus on: (i) Changes to CAMIR and X12 message formats required for the deployment of ACE Ocean and Rail Manifest, mandatory ABI changes required for this deployment, and the decommissioning of the ACS Ocean and Rail Manifest system; and (ii) Current and future ACE deployments including ACE Entry Summary Filing, Post Summary Corrections, PGA Message Set, Document Image System, Simplified Entry/Cargo Release, and Export Manifest. Registration is available at http://www.ncbfaa.org/.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a February 2012 update on its progress with various ACE capabilities and other projects, such as the Document Image System, PGA Message Set, e-Manifest: rail and Sea (M1), ACE Truck, Automated Export Processing etc. With this update, CBP states that a DIS pilot test will be announced in March and M1 will be operational at all direct ports by the end of March. The update has added information on Simplified Entry and Simplified Summary, but removed the dates for the ACE Cargo Release contract award and the Simplified Entry test (the test is now expected to begin in April 2012).
At the February 21, 2012 COAC meeting, CBP officials said the agency plans to issue an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) to gather ideas on its planned re-write of the Customs broker regulations in 19 CFR Part 111. The ANPR will also ensure that all of the broker community has ample opportunity to provide comments and suggestions.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reposted its 183 page Matrix of "Active" Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) User Requirements of the Trade Support Network, which are those that are pending CBP review. Most of these active user requirements cover ACE Accounts, Entry, and Multi-Modal Manifest (MMM), however there are also Export and Revenue user requirements, among others. CBP has also posted a 321 page Matrix of All (active and completed) ACE User Requirements of the TSN.