CBP has issued a CSMS message announcing that the availability of the ACE Certification Environment was delayed. The ACE Certification environment was expected to be available for testing again at approximately 6:00 PM EDT Wednesday, April 13, 2011. (CBP had previously announced that the ACE Certification environment was expected to be available for testing at approximately 2:00 PM EDT Wednesday, April 13, 2011.)
The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General has issued a report containing an independent audit conducted by KPMG LLP that addresses the strengths and weaknesses of U.S. Customs and Border Protection's fiscal year 2010 internal controls over financial reporting. Among other things, the audit continues to find a number of weaknesses in CBP’s drawback program.
On April 13, 2011 at the annual U.S. Customs and Border Protection Trade Symposium, three agencies, the Food and Drug Administration, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the Environmental Protection Agency, described how they interact with CBP on import safety, with CBP expecting cooperation to be the wave of the future.
On April 12, 2011, the Departmental Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Related Homeland Security Functions (COAC) met in Washington, DC to discuss a variety of trade issues, including defining the role of the broker, automation, management by account pilots and intellectual property rights protection.
CBP has posted the following presentations and speaker biographies for the 2011 Annual Trade Symposium that will be held April 13-14. (Note that BP will be attending and reporting on the symposium).
On April 4, 2011, a Consumer Product Safety Commission official provided an update on Consumer Product Safety Commission activities at the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) Annual Conference. He discussed CPSC detention notices, the agency’s increased focus on imports, and the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008’s (CPSIA’s) expansion of penalties and prohibited acts for consumer products.
Registration is now open for the American Association of Exporters and Importers’ (AAEI) 90th Annual Conference, which will be held on June 5-7, 2011 in New York. Among others, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Bureau of Industry and Security Undersecretary Eric Hirschhorn, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection ACE Executive Director Cindy Allen are expected to speak at the conference.
On April 4, 2011, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin spoke at the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) Annual Conference, where he discussed the need to expedite how legitimate goods move through the ports, including trimming transaction costs, and coordinating with other government agencies1.
CBP has issued a CSMS message announcing that the planned outage of the ACE Certification Environment for Monday, April 11, 2011 has been canceled. (CBP has previously issued a CSMS message stating that the ACE CERT Environment would be unavailable for a few hours on April 11.)
The International Trade Data System Board's recent fiscal year 2010 report contains an update on the progress of ITDS implementation by Participating Government Agencies since 2009, and includes information on pilots with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Coast Guard, Environmental Protection Agency, and Food Safety and Inspection Service; in addition to an antidumping/countervailing duty ACE module with the International Trade Administration, and an interface for the DOT’s planned International Freight Data System and ACE. Other PGAs worked on their agreements with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.