Automated Commercial Environment (ACE)

The Treasury Department published its spring 2016 regulatory agenda for CBP (here), which mentions a new proposed rulemaking to eliminate "hybrid" customs filings. The proposal (here) includes "new regulations that will require filers submitting entry or entry summary data electronically in ACE also to file associated [International Trade Data System] Agency data electronically in ACE, subject to limited exceptions," it said. "This rule will make each discrete entry or entry summary more uniform, as each transaction will be filed entirely in electronic format or entirely in paper format. This will enhance the ability of the U.S. Government to enforce the legal requirements pertaining to those transactions."

CBP will test automation and prepayment of commercial truck single-crossing fees as part of an effort to eliminate cash and credit card collections, the agency said in a notice (here). "The automation and prepayment option for the single-crossing user fee will reduce wait times, improve primary processing, save costs to truck carriers associated with idling time (such as gas and lost driving hours), and alleviate CBP officers of the administrative functions pertaining to the collection, accounting and transmittal of user fee collections," the agency said.

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Import filers could be in for an eventful summer, with ACE system slowdowns and CBP communication problems compounding problems related to an already crowded slate of ACE deadlines, said several software developers and a customs broker during the annual conference of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America on April 19. After a slow implementation process over nearly a decade and a relatively successful transition for entry summary on March 31 (see 1604050034), the pace is set to increase markedly as 19 PGAs join the two already online at as yet undetermined dates.

The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee will next meet April 27 in Washington, D.C., CBP said in a notice (here).

CBP is apparently planning to deploy quota capabilities in ACE this July, according to a CSMS message sent March 16 (here). CBP’s most recent updates to ACE mandatory use dates and its ACE deployment schedule had only said quota entry and entry summary types 02, 07 and 12 would be deployed and become mandatory in “Summer 2016,” alongside entry types 21 and 22 and entry summary types 21, 22, 31, 32, 34 and 38. In the CSMS message, CBP urged filers to begin testing quota in the ACE certification environment. “July is right around the corner, and we encourage all Trade participants to test in CERTIFICATION,” said the agency. Under the previous deadline, CBP said it would deploy quota entry types at the same time it switches off the legacy Automated Commercial System in order to avoid double counting (see 1509030068), in effect making ACE quota mandatory immediately after deployment.

CBP saw "the largest percentage increase ever" in the cargo release Automated Commercial Environment submission rate in February, the agency said (here). During February, the ACE submission rate for cargo release moved up 11 percent to 31.2 percent, CBP said. That increase beats out the previous largest increase, set the month before (see 1603040030). So far, 182 of top 200 baseline filers have filed at least one cargo release in ACE, the agency said. CBP considers the percentages an important measure of readiness for mandatory use of ACE (see 1510190017). Unique filers for Partner Government Agency pilots also grew from January to February, up from 469 to 823, CBP said.

Participants in the Environmental Protection Agency’s pilot on filing of pesticide shipment data in the Automated Commercial Environment are seeing a drastic reduction in processing times, according to Roy Chaudet of EPA’s Office of Environmental Information during a March 8 webinar. Only three slots are filled in the pilot, which is limited to nine participants, though several other filers are interested and getting ready to file their notices of arrival in ACE, he said.

The Census Bureau is proposing the addition of two new data elements in the Automated Export System, as well as other changes to the Foreign Trade Regulations to enhance clarity and support the move of AES to the Automated Commercial Environment, it said (here). The agency's proposed rule would add fields for an original Internal Transaction Number (ITN) and a used electronics indicator to improve trade data as well as the handling of used electronics to advance “environmentally sound practices” in the disposal of electronic products, Census said. The purpose of the new “original ITN” field would be to help inform the export community and enforcement bodies that a filer completed the mandatory filing requirements for the original shipment and any other shipments.

CBP made big strides on numerous fronts for Automated Commercial Environment deployment, the agency said in a news release (here). CBP finished deploying all core manifest processing capabilities and 90 percent of core cargo release capabilities during fiscal year 2015, it said. CBP also moved closer to completing post-release and export deployments in ACE, it said. CBP also said it collected $1.2 billion in antidumping/countervailing duty deposits and "18 monetary penalties totaling over $60 million on importers for fraud, gross negligence, and negligence for AD/CVD violations." Additionally, "92 CBP audits of importers of AD/CVD commodities identified $69 million in AD/CVD discrepancies with $7 million collected to date," said CBP. The multiagency Commercial Targeting and Analysis Center initiated 368 seizures of unsafe imported products in FY15, an increase of 107 percent over the previous year, CBP said.

CBP saw "the largest percentage increase ever" on the cargo release Automated Commercial Environment submission rate in January, the agency said (here). During January, the ACE submission rate for cargo release moved up 7 percent to 20.4 percent, CBP said. CBP considers the percentages an important measure of readiness for mandatory use of ACE (see 1510190017). CBP also reported that entry summaries filed in ACE fell by 7 percent, while the percentage of entry summaries filed in the Automated Commercial System grew by 1 percent. Unique filers for Partner Government Agency pilots also grew from December to January, up from 114 to 469, CBP said.