CBP will begin a test of air cargo manifest filing for exports within the Automated Commercial Environment, the agency said in a notice (here). The voluntary test will require participants to submit export data electronically at least four hours before loading, the agency said. Currently, the complete manifest is required on paper CBP Form 7509 after departure, said CBP. The pilot will begin on Aug. 10 and is scheduled to last for two years, said CBP.
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 to and from the U.S. and the government determines admissibility.
The Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC) for CBP will next meet July 29 in Rosemont, Illinois, CBP said in a notice (here).
CBP posted to its website an updated version of its CATAIR chapter on Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Entry Summary Create/Update (here), it said in a CSMS message (here). The revised CATAIR chapter includes changes "pertinent to additional Entry Type Codes (02, 06, 07, 12, 21, 22, 23, 31, 32, 34, 38, 51, and 52)," many of which CBP recently delayed until Oct. 31 (see 1506030054). CBP also included a revised
ACS-EI to ACE-AE Entry Summary Condition Cross Reference, updated with all the new ACE Entry Summary (AE) codes and additional information, it said. Both documents can be found on CBP's ACE CATAIR webpage (here) under the "Draft Chapters for Future Capabilities" section.
CBP will target 200 “top filers” in its efforts to promote industry adoption of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) ahead of the Nov. 1 deadline for entry summary and cargo release, according to a press release issued by the Trade Support Network (TSN) following a conference held June 23-25 in Washington.
Exporter account registration and export trade reports went live in the Automated Commercial Environment on June 27 as expected, said the Census Bureau on July 1. Additional information for importer accountholders in ACE , including training material, is available (here), said Census. However, exporters with a current ACE import account or that have additional Employee Identification Numbers (EINs) that are not associated with a current ACE account “will be required to complete the U.S. Census Bureau’s vetting process for each EIN new to ACE,” it said. For technical questions related to ACE Exporter Account or ACE Trade Export Reports contact the CBP ACE Account Service Desk at 1-866-530-4172, selecting option 1, then option 2, or e-mail ACE.Support@cbp.dhs.gov, said Census.
CBP Miami will temporarily allow air carriers to accept copies of CBP Forms 3461, 7512 and/or 6043, the port director said in a information bulletin. "Filers and carriers not receiving the appropriate release messages, can present the appropriate entry packaged to the [Cargo Clearance Center] for release confirmation," it said. The temporary procedures are in response to ongoing problems with the Automated Commercial Environment Air Manifest transition. CBP allows the individual ports to provide work-around procedures while the agency continues to work to fix the problems (see 1506220016).
A planned validation for Automated Commercial System cargo release entries that are subject to quota will not allow CBP to move up implementation of several quota-related entry types it recently delayed until Oct. 31, said a CBP spokeswoman. Instead, the validation, which was originally set for implementation on June 27 before CBP postponed deployment so it could focus on continuing air manifest issues (see 1506290018), will serve to “reject entries that are subject to Quota and filed with an incorrect entry type,” said the spokeswoman.
CBP should require use of the Automated Commercial Environment only for capabilities that have been in production for at least six months, said Trade Support Network industry members in a June 26 letter to CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske and other government officials involved in the ACE transition. The TSN group, the Trade Leadership Council (TLC), said there's too much at risk to proceed with the current ACE and International Trade Data System transition plan. While the council didn't specifically ask for a delay to the current deadline, such a revision would mark a major shift to CBP's plans.
CBP postponed the planned June 27 update for the Automated Commercial Environment "to provide a more stable environment for the air industry," said CBP in a June 26 CSMS message (here). "CBP will continue to work with the air industry to assess system performance and communicate a new date for" the deployment, the agency said. CBP did update ACE to allow for an "exporter" account type, as planned (see 1506260007), said CBP. The agency continues to work to fix problems with ACE Air Manifest (see 1506230030).
As part of the June 27 Automated Commercial Environment deployment, CBP will add a new account type within the ACE Secure Data Portal, the agency said (here). CBP will also add "a new system validation will automatically reject ACE Cargo Release entries that are subject to quota and entered" without the correct entry type, it said. "Until November 1, 2015, entries that are subject to quota must be filed in the Automated Commercial System (ACS)." The validation feature is hoped to allow for earlier than planned industry testing of 11 entry types ahead of the Nov. 1 requirement for entry summary and cargo release filing in ACE, a CBP official recently said (see 1506030054).