CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:
CBP posted the monthly Trade Support Network (TSN) committee reports for October through December. Among other things, the TSN is working on a "White Paper" on Automated Commercial Environment entry recordkeeping, the December report said. The December 2012 report is (here). The October/November report is (here).
CBP posted updated documents providing overviews of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) and its benefits for various industries. The updates are minimal.
The Import Administration is working closely with partner agencies including CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to fight antidumping and countervailing duty evasion and fraud schemes, said Assistant Secretary Paul Piquado at Georgetown Law School’s 2013 International Trade Update Conference in Washington, D.C., Feb. 28. A key tool in this cooperation is the Automated Commercial Environment, he said. The collaboration has resulted in several successful criminal prosecutions related to duty evasion and fraud, he said. (Import Administration is the unit within the International Trade Administration tasked with administering AD/CV duties.)
The planned budget cuts of sequestration set to hit the U.S. government March 1 will likely slow down the processing of ruling requests from those involved in international trade, said Al Gina, assistant commissioner in the CBP Office of International Trade. Gina spoke Feb. 28 at the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization conference in Arlington, Va. CBP has previously said it expects some slowdown to trade processing at the border and potentially some cutbacks on intellectual property rights enforcement and its efforts toward the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) as a result of sequestration.
CBP is surveying importers, brokers, carriers about use of the Automated Commercial Environment, the agency said in a CSMS message. The survey will help CBP formally gauge the areas where ACE is doing well and where improvement is needed, the agency said. The survey is (here).
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Feb. 19-22 in case they were missed.
CBP posted a February version of its list of trade benefits for participants in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) by industry segment. Specific benefits are listed for Customs brokers, importers, self-filers, sureties, carriers, trade account owners (TAOs), as well as all users with portal accounts, for (1) ACE Secure Data Portal, (2) Periodic Monthly Statement, (3) ACE Reports, (4) Cargo Release/Simplified Entry, (5) Entry Summary Filing (6) Document Image System, (7) Post Summary Corrections, (8) e-Manifest: Truck and (9) e-Manifest: Rail and Sea.
CBP resolved technical problems when processing Automated Commercial System and Automated Commercial Environment entry summaries, said CBP in a CSMS message.
The planned budget cuts set to take effect March 1 would immediately force CBP to cut back on overtime and will likely result in longer wait times, the agency told industry stakeholders during a Feb. 22 conference call to discuss sequestration. According to the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA), while uncertainty remains on the details of how CBP's operations will continue following the cuts, the agency was anxious to provide its plans for international trade processing.