A bipartisan pair of senators fleshed out a trade facilitation framework released in early June (see 2406100015) with legislative text that authorizes spending to create a true single window and modernize ACE, as well as details of how duty drawback could change.
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.
The Treasury Department published its spring 2024 regulatory agenda for CBP. The agenda continues to list a proposed rule to amend CBP’s regulations on the entry of “certain low-value shipments not exceeding $800 that are eligible for an administrative exemption from duty and tax.”
DHS published its spring 2024 regulatory agenda for CBP with only one new trade-related action mentioned. The department listed a new proposed rule that could mandate electronic export manifest for all cargo leaving the U.S. by ocean vessel.
USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will on May 20 "roll out" use of its APHIS Core Message Set for Certificates of Foreign Inspection and/or Treatment, or PPQ Form 203, for air shipments of precleared commodities from Chile, air shipments of precleared commodities from Thailand, and both air and maritime shipments of precleared commodities from Argentina, the agency said in a bulletin on May 6. This will create an electronic database -- for Certificates of Foreign Inspection and/or Treatment -- that can be "invoked" by filers and accessed by CBP agriculture inspectors through the Automated Commercial Environment Document Image System. "The process will function like current permitting and ePhyto capabilities in ACE," APHIS said.
When a declaration is made on the Automated Commercial Environment portal, the system will automatically check for duplicate Harmonized Tariff Schedule numbers, case numbers and manufacturer IDs before submission is permitted, CBP said. This was part of a series of updates CBP made to the ACE Portal that was highlighted in an April 25 CSMS message.
The entry summary data universe has been updated to include all data elements that currently exist in the antidumping and countervailing duties data set in the Automated Commercial Environment Reports, CBP said. Users will no longer have to create reports that use both the entry summary and AD/CVD universes, the agency said in a CSMS message April 9. The AD/CVD universe is scheduled to be retired April 18, so "users should repoint" saved reports that use the AD/CVD universe or a combination of the AD/CVD and entry summary universes to the entry summary universe before that date, CBP said.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP reminded members of the trade community that starting March 1 the agency will require self-certification statements to be uploaded to the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) for non-industrial diamonds with a weight of 1.0 carat or greater, diamond jewelry and unsorted diamonds, in a CSMS message on Feb. 29. The Office of Foreign Assets Control banned Russian diamonds of those types in February to comply with an executive order signed in December that prohibits the importation of diamonds, fish and seafood if they were produced "wholly or in part" in Russia, CBP said (see 2402080081 and 2312260061).
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet March 6 remotely and in person in Charleston, South Carolina, CBP said in a notice. Comments are due in writing by March 1.
CBP released a new guidance document Feb. 12 on how the agency sets bond amounts, replacing the bond directive it issued in 1991 with a new "Guide for the Public" that the agency has said will accompany a revised internal directive on bonds (see 2309150061).