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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.

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TTB Extends Excise Tax Payment Deadline, but Gives No Guidance on Imports
April 2, 2020 |Treasury Dept.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is postponing due dates for payments of federal excise taxes to help businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s still unclear whether imported products will benefit from the extension. “Effective immediately, all due dates for paying Federal excise taxes to TTB on wine, beer, distilled spirits, tobacco products, cigarette papers and tubes, firearms, and ammunition are postponed 90 days from the due date otherwise prescribed,” TTB said in a guidance posted March 31. But the extension applies only to excise tax payable to TTB, and the guidance directs importers to contact CBP for information about imported products.

CBP Announces Filing Procedures for Recently Granted Third Tranche Section 301 Exclusions
March 30, 2020 by Tim Warren|Customs

CBP added on March 31 the ability in ACE for importers to file entries with recently excluded goods in the third tranche of Section 301 tariffs, it said in a CSMS message. The official Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notice for the exclusions was published on March 26 (see 2003230043). The exclusions are in subheading 9903.88.43. The exclusions are available for any product that meets the description in the Annex to USTR’s notice, regardless of whether the importer filed an exclusion request. The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 24, 2018, and will expire after Aug. 7, 2020. The CSMS message also includes a summary of Section 301 duties that shows information on each tranche of tariffs and granted product exclusions.

Topics:Customs duty
APHIS Now Accepting Electronic Phytosanitary Certificates
March 30, 2020 |Customs

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and CBP will now “accept electronically produced versions of phytosanitary certificates” for imported plants and plant products, CBP said in a CSMS message. “Importers and brokers may upload the electronic documents to the Automated Commercial Environment using the Document Imaging System or provide them by other means, such as email attachments,” it said. “Acceptable phytosanitary certificates include scanned copies of original certificates, electronic certificates created through a participating country’s ePhyto system, or signed paper forms. Certificates should be legible and include APHIS-required statements. In addition, we will allow precleared consignments to be accompanied by an email from APHIS Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) with an electronic copy of PPQ Form 203 attached, if the original form is not available,” APHIS said.

Topics:Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)