CBP has been working to improve the responsiveness of its ACE help desk as part of the agency’s effort to address issues that arose for both import and export filers following two key transition dates at the end of March, said Bill Delansky, a product owner at CBP’s ACE Business Office, during an April 8 conference call with members of the Airforwarders Association. The agency also deployed several fixes to the system slowdowns users experienced and, alongside the Census Bureau, is now looking forward to several key transition dates on the near horizon for exporters.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
Refactored AESDirect users saw some new problems after a third batch of entrants admitted on March 28 to ACE reduced system functionality, said trade associations. Three-month delays for adding new exporters, login obstacles, and discord between ACE and certain web browsers were among the several problems encountered by filers transferring from the Census Bureau’s legacy AESDirect system to the new ACE-embedded filing system, the American Association of Exporters and Importers said in an April 1 letter to CBP.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP laid out plans for protest filings other post-release processing within ACE as part of a presentation at the Trade Support Network plenary session (here). The electronic mechanism for protest submissions is hoped to allow for broader trade participation and "seamless movement of work that can be equally effective when used at a port or nationwide at a" Center of Excellence and Expertise, said CBP. A deployment date for protests capabilities within ACE isn't yet certain, according to CBP's ACE deployment schedule (here). CBP posted the presentation and additional materials for the TSN session April 5-7 (here).
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for March 28 - April 1 in case they were missed.
Despite some brief “system slowdowns” for ACE users following the March 31 mandatory use dates for most entry summaries and certain PGA entries in ACE, the issues “have been resolved,” said a CBP spokeswoman. CBP "regrets" the issues and has its "technical teams operating 24/7” to increase “monitoring of ACE system performance to address any additional need for faster response times while maintaining the security and integrity of the system,” she said.
CBP posted the agenda and some other documents ahead of the Trade Support Network plenary session April 5-7 (here). Progress on the ACE transition, the Centers for Excellence and Expertise and new customs law are among the major topics listed on the agenda (here).
Informal entries (type 11) aren't subject to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Lacey Act declaration requirement, CBP said in a CSMS message (here) meant to further clarify the agency's ACE timeline (see 1603250048). That means the Lacey Act data won't be required on type 11 entries or entry summaries in ACE, said CBP. "Electronic entry type 11 entry summaries, without PGA data other than [the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration]" is now required to be filed in ACE, said CBP. "Electronic entry type 11 entries, without PGA data other than NHTSA, will be required to be filed in ACE on May 28, 2016," it said.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service reminded importers and filers that they may still use the agency’s Lacey Act Web Governance System (LAWGS) to submit Lacey Act declarations (here), but will first need to get entry numbers from ACE and not the legacy Automated Commercial System after the March 31 deadline for filing entries with Lacey Act data in ACE. LAWGS filers should use Lacey disclaimer code C to indicate the use of LAWGS for filing the Lacey Act declaration, said APHIS.