CBP Expects "PGA Message Set" for Cargo to be Final in April 2011
During recent trade events1, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials provided an update on the status of Participating Government Agency (PGA) message set (aka the standard data set) -- a single, harmonized set of information that will be collected electronically from the trade by CBP on behalf of PGAs. The PGA message set will allow CBP and PGAs to make decisions about what cargo can come into the U.S. without the myriad paper forms currently required.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
The PGA Message Set is 1 of the Top 3 ITDS Priorities
The International Trade Data System (ITDS) Board and their PGA members have been working on this PGA message set. (The message set has been under developmentfor over six years2.) It is one of the three priorities recommended by the ITDS Board to help them meet their needs and get them back on track with ACE/ITDS. The other two priorities are the Document Imaging System (DIS) and technical interoperability.
(See ITT’s Online Archives or 03/02/11 news, 11030232, for BP summary of ITDS Board reporting on these priorities and the progress that has been made on them.)
CBP Expects to Finalize Message Set by End of April, to Issue Trade Guide
The PGA message set is currently being reviewed by the ITDS Board of Directors and its finalization is expected by the end of April 2011. CBP will publish the data set once it has been finalized and will issue “implementation guides” so that the trade and PGAs can begin the process of readying themselves to utilize this new capability in late spring 2011.
According to the monthly ACE update, CBP will build the technology that will support the collection of this PGA Message Set by August 2011.
(CBP previously stated that it expected the final PGA message set to be completed in March 2011. See ITT’s Online Archives or 03/02/11 news, 11030243, for BP summary.)
PGA Message Set to Include Additional In-bound Data Elements
The PGA message set will include additional inbound data elements required by other agencies to the major import reporting messages (aka PGA message set for the Customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements (CATAIR)).)
CBP would then be able to provide this data to other agencies via a data interface (interoperability initiative with each agency).
CBP & PGAs Discussing How Agencies Will Act/Expect CBP to Act on Data
CBP is also working with its PGA partners to identify the policy considerations surrounding the data. The agencies now want data and there are discussions being held on how the agencies expect CBP to act on the data and how the agencies act on that data themselves.
CBP will be taking the data in from the trade and passing it on to the PGAs -- but CBP needs to know what the PGA’s responsibilities are with regard to that data and what they expect CBP to do based on their responses to the data.
CBP Not Sure if Message Set Will be Operational in ACS and/or ACE
CBP has not yet decided if this PGA message set will be operational in ACE and/or ACS. (While CBP is trying to transition the trade into using ACE, very few entries/entry summaries are filed using the system. Since ACS is used for most entries/entry summaries, CBP is trying to decide which system or systems will use the message set.)
1The April 3-6 NCBFAA conference, April 12 COAC meeting, and April 13-14 Annual CBP Trade Symposium.
2Note that in February 2009, CBP issued a PGA CATAIR chapter to begin the development of a universal Participating Government Agency data set; and to allow CBP to meet the data collection [declaration] requirements as determined by the Lacey Act. (See ITT’s Online Archives or 02/19/09 news, 09021905, for BP summary.)
(See ITT’s Online Archives or 04/15/11 news, 11041518, for BP summary of FDA, CPSC, and EPA officials discussing how they interact with CBP on import safety, with CBP expecting cooperation to be the wave of the future.
See ITT’s Online Archives or 04/11/11 news, 11041126, for BP summary of the ITDS Board reporting on progress with the PGAs.)