COAC Again Calls for Informed Compliance Approach for ACE, 'Carve Outs' for Some Functionalities
Members of the CBP Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC) reiterated calls for the agency to take an informed compliance approach to implementation of the Automated Commercial Environment, and possibly delay enforcement for certain capabilities that are set to become mandatory at the end of February, at the group’s quarterly meeting held Jan. 13 in New Orleans.
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Though CBP’s Feb. 28 deadline is necessary to maintain momentum, the agency should consider “carve outs” delaying implementation for certain types of entries that haven’t been adequately tested, said COAC member Susie Hoeger of Abbott Laboratories. Most importantly, the trade community is looking for contingency plans, “because our own management is demanding the same from us,” said Hoeger. For data newly required in ACE, CBP should focus on “trade facilitation” by letting shipments through even if the new data elements are missing to let cargo move while importers track the data down, she said.
According to an informal survey of drug, medical device and food importers conducted by Hoeger, importers are concerned about their ability to collect the new data by Feb. 28. All sixteen surveyed said they are not expecting a seamless transition. Asked to rate the expected impact on a scale of one to five, with one being a few hiccups and five being imports grinding to a halt, the surveyed importers gave an average response of 3.3, indicating a “fair level of concern about supply chain obstructions and delay,” said Hoeger. Figuring out how to collect the new data and feed it to their brokers is a “monumental” task, particularly for importers who have automated systems and need to modify programming.
Similar concerns arose in a survey of brokers along the northern border, with almost every company surveyed by COAC member Amy Magnus of A.N. Deringer reporting that they’re not confident they’ll be 100 percent ready for CBP. Brokers also have to modify their end of the electronic data interchange systems that pull data from importers. Many brokers have databases they have created for their importer clients that require extensive restructuring to accommodate the new data elements, she said.
According to CBP’s newly released adoption statistics (here), the ACE cargo release submission rate rose to 13.5 percent in December, from 11.6 percent the previous month. In recent “weeks and days” that rate has been growing more rapidly and “trending towards the 20 percent marker,” said Debbie Augustin, executive director of CBP’s ACE Business Office, at the COAC meeting. Some 158 out of the top 200 baseline filers had at least one ACE cargo release submission as of December, up from 144 the previous month. The three partner government agencies subject to the Feb. 28 deadline, Animal Plant Health Inspection Service Lacey Act, Food and Drug Administration and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “have nearly completed their pilots," said the adoption report. “Although more transactions are preferred, these three agencies are operationally ready” for Feb. 28, it said.
CBP has been continuing to conduct targeted outreach to filers that have not yet filed in ACE, said Augustin. After one successful outreach this past summer, CBP is currently in the middle of another round set for completion by the end of the month, she said. Meanwhile, CBP and PGAs, including FDA, have been continuing workforce training on ACE, with the latest round of CBP training set for completion by February, she said.