CBP faces a challenging budget environment for ACE as it works to find funding for improvements and new functionalities long desired by the trade community, said Cynthia Whittenburg, deputy executive assistant commissioner at CBP’s Office of Trade, at a National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference in Washington Sept. 12. Following completion of “core” ACE in December, the “funding profile” will “adjust downward” as CBP will be legally required to use ACE operations and maintenance funding for operations and maintenance, and will not be able to use the funds for building new capabilities, including for partner government agencies (PGAs). “So when you see in our appropriations and funding, 'ACE,' those dollars are going strictly to fixing bugs and keeping the system running,” she said.
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 and the government determines admissibility.
Additional data elements required by the Food and Drug Administration for ACE entries are increasing costs and staffing needs for the trade community, companies and trade associations said in comments on FDA’s proposed rule to codify the new requirements (here). FDA’s ACE requirements “represent an economically significant greater burden on the trade community compared to the data required in the previous Automated Commercial System (ACS),” the Express Association of America said (here). One EAA member calculated an increase of 50% in the time required to process an FDA entry in ACE over the time required in ACS, “from 16 to 24 minutes,” the EAA said. “In order to continue to meet the strict delivery deadlines in the express environment for FDA-regulated products, the increased processing time has resulted in a requirement for a 40% increase in staffing for these shipments,” it said.
CBP should give the trade community a grace period of 60 days to file in the legacy Automated Commercial System after it deploys drawback and reconciliation in ACE on Oct. 1, the Trade Support Network leadership council said in a letter to the agency dated Aug. 26. Current plans to deactivate ACS for drawback and reconciliation at the same time CBP launches drawback and reconciliation in ACE do not leave enough time for testing and training, and the agency still hasn’t issued the required policies and regulations, it said.
Changes coming to the reconciliation program after CBP moves processing to ACE on Oct. 1 will “streamline” reconciliation filing, CBP National Reconciliation Program Manager Ace Kennedy said during a webinar held Aug. 19. Not only will filers be able to submit the entire reconciliation package electronically (see 1608120034), the system will also automatically populate fields for the underlying entry’s original value, duties, taxes and fees, meaning the filer no longer has to transmit that data, said Angelina Leyte of CBP's ACE Business Office. With the application process eliminated, the CBP system will now automatically verify the presence of the reconciliation bond rider required for reconciliation filing, so filers will no longer have to deposit a copy with CBP, Kennedy said. Filing will be opened up to all ports from the original 13, and will be processed by personnel from the Centers of Excellence and Expertise, she said.
ACE filers continue to face downtime and slowdown issues worse than those encountered in the legacy Automated Commercial System, and several functionalities essential to the trade community are still unavailable, including some that were available in the legacy system before it was mostly shut down July 23, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in a position paper (here). “Much remains to be done” before the implementation of ACE can be declared a success, with performance of some aspects of the new electronic filing regime still lagging behind that of the ACS, it said.
The National Marine Fisheries Service issued a final rule (here) that will consolidate existing import, export and re-export permits for filing in CBP’s Automated Commercial Environment. Under the new regulations, currently separate permits and documentation for the Antarctic Marine Living Resources (AMLR) and the Highly Migratory Species International Trade Permit (HMS ITP) programs must be filed in ACE under a single International Fisheries Trade Permit (IFTP), via both data elements and scanned images. Non-resident importers will have to go through a registered agent residing in the U.S. to obtain an IFTP. NMFS is also finalizing new permit requirements for seafood products regulated under the Tuna Tracking and Verification Program (TTVP), also under the consolidated IFTP procedures. The final rule takes effect Sept. 20.
Concerns over potential technical and procedural issues related to the deployment of as-yet-unproven quota systems in ACE are leaving customs brokers uncertain on the eve of the July 23 ACE deadline for most remaining entry types, said brokers in interviews. A lack of real world testing and changes to quota business practices means some brokers aren’t entirely sure what’s going to happen after the deadline. The uncertainty is compounded by the simultaneous decommissioning of legacy Automated Commercial System, which leaves filers without a fallback that has been particularly valuable in the truck environment.
The legacy Automated Commercial System should remain available for filers following the July 23 mandatory use date for most remaining entry types in ACE, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in a letter to CBP dated July 14 (here). Though CBP said it will begin decommissioning ACS on July 23 and the system will be unavailable as a backup (see 1605270002), ACS should remain available in cases of delays resulting from down time, slow processing or software issues, because costs to the trade community would be too great without the ACS fallback option, the NCBFAA said.
The use of ACE by the Environmental Protection Agency will likely become mandatory in the "fall time frame at the earliest," Roy Chaudet of EPA said during a July 7 webinar about Partner Government Agencies (PGAs) and the move to ACE. That agency is running several pilots including for non-road vehicle imports and pesticide notices of arrival, ozone-depleting substances and Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) submissions (see 1606090020). "In terms of our pilots ending and our reporting requirements put in place, those will all be later this year," he said.
As CBP moves quota filing into ACE on July 23, the biggest changes seen by the trade community will be a fully electronic submission process and the automation of quota allocation and messaging, CBP officials said during a webinar June 28. Gone will be the days of time-stamped paper, at least for filers who submit quota data electronically in ACE entry summaries and imaged documents. The ACE system, not entry and import specialists, will automatically set presentation dates and, with certain exceptions, allocate quota amounts and message filers accordingly, the officials said during the webinar, which expanded on transition procedures recently outlined by CBP (see 1606270028).