On January 3, 2012, U.S. Customs and Border Protection updated its ACE ABI Customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements (CATAIR) for its Chapter on Entry Summary Create/Update in order to correct the Harbor Maintenance Fee (HMF) de minimis value in Entry Summary Filing - Usage Note (o). CATAIR Change Record for 2012 is available here. Entry Summary Create/Update CATAIR Chapter is available here. Download all sections of the CATAIR here.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued CSMS Message #12-000003, announcing that it has received reports from trade users of slow response times when using the ACE Portal. CBP is investigating these reports. CBP will issue another CSMS once this issue is cleared.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message detailing the arrival "process steps and conditions" of ACE M1 (e-Manifest: Ocean and Rail) for ocean carriers using both ACE M1 and the legacy Automated Manifest System (AMS). This new functionality deployed on December 14, 2011.
Trade and other sources state that U.S. Customs and Border Protection could maintain its momentum in the development of the Automated Commercial Environment, even without a Presidential appointee as Commissioner.
David Genovese, the Director of Trade Modernization and ACE Coordination in the ACE Business Office of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, passed away at age 44 on December 27, 2011. He is survived by his wife and two children, ages 16 and 13. The David Genovese Memorial Fund, Wells Fargo Bank c/o Branch Manager, 131 Garrisonville Road, Stafford, VA, 22554 has been created to benefit his children, in lieu of flowers. Internment was private. Press reports indicate Genovese died of a massive heart attack. Daily Record obituary notice available here.
Broker Power is providing readers with some of the top stories for January 3-6, 2012 in case they were missed last week.
In late December 2011, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced that 13 CBP ports were starting to process rail and sea manifests in the "CBP port phase" of the ACE e-Manifest: Rail and Sea (M1) pilots, which began in November 2011.
The Los Angeles Field Operations branch of U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a Public Bulletin to announce that the LA/Long Beach Seaport is posting the “official” Bulletin Notices of Liquidation -- CBP Forms 4333 -- on a compact disk as of January 6, 2012 for three port codes. According to CBP sources, this change facilitates requests for copies, as it will be less burdensome than copying from the paper version.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a 2009 Great Idea Form (GIF) on a request from the trade community for the ability of Customs brokers to upload employee information from an Excel spreadsheet to the ACE Portal to meet the 19 CFR Part 111 requirement to provide CBP with a list of broker employees. The GIF notes that the functionality delivered with ESAR A1 does not allow the mid to large size broker to take advantage of the ACE Portal for this requirement.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted two Great Idea Form (GIFs) on requests from the trade community for access to (i) Document Image System (DIS) information in ACE Reports and (ii) images submitted electronically to CBP through DIS via the ACE Portal. According to the GIFs, providing these enhancements to the trade will allow importers to view and review documents in near real-time, communicate with the Participating Government Agency (PGA) in nearly the same view, resolve matters expeditiously, and review and discuss trends that will ultimately lead to fewer trade disruptions.