FWS on Track to Allow Unlimited ACE Filing in July, Enforce FWS Flags Around End of Year
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is on track to open up its ACE filing pilot to all filers on July 6, with an eye to issuing a final rule making use of the FWS partner government agency (PGA) message set mandatory at the end of the year, FWS senior wildlife inspector Rhyan Tompkins said on a June 22 webinar hosted by the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America.
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The current, limited pilot, which began in April, has been successful, Tompkins said. The expanded pilot will be open to all ACE filers at current FWS designated ports of entry, plus filers at FWS non-designated entry points if authorized under a valid designated port exception permit specifically issued for that port, she said. All FWS tariff schedule flags -- pared down by the agency to 268 -- will be enforced under a “warning severity” starting July 6, Tompkins said. During the webinar, Tompkins highlighted the agency’s multi-option approach for filing that allows either full filing using the PGA message set or a partial filing in ACE accompanied by filing in the FWS eDecs system (see 1804200042 and 2003040037).
FWS is in the process of publishing a proposed rule that includes the filing of FWS data via ACE, Tompkins said. The final rule will then follow “likely at the end of this year,” at which point tariff schedule flags will be fully enforced. “FWS will keep the trade informed as we move through the rulemaking process,” she said.
The new filing scheme using the ACE single window will eliminate some timing headaches for filers. Tompkins said filers can submit in any order they want -- FWS or customs data first -- and the shipment won’t be released until both FWS and CBP clear the shipment. That’s in contrast to current practice, whereby data must first be transmitted to and cleared by FWS before the CBP entry is filed. “They can be submitted at the same time, and then the system basically takes care of it,” Tompkins said. “You can submit in any order you want to.”