Automated Commercial Environment (ACE)

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is drafting a "formal clarification" to spell out exemptions to Lacey Act declaration requirements for plant products entered from Foreign Trade Zones, an APHIS spokeswoman said in an email. There's been confusion over several years as to whether an exemption to the requirements applies to type 06 entries. With the move toward the Automated Commercial Environment, the agency plans to bring type 06 entries "into the fold of the Lacey Act declaration requirement," APHIS's Parul Patel, senior agriculturalist, Imports, Regulations, and Manuals, said at a National Association of Foreign Trade Zones conference on Feb. 9.

CBP posted a policy guidance on recordkeeping requirements in the Automated Commercial Environment (here). "As a matter of policy, CBP will not request an entry filer to produce the data (formerly contained in CBP Forms 7501, 3461, 214 or 7512) that the filer previously transmitted to and was retained by CBP unless CBP has a need for such records," the agency said. If CBP does need such records, the filer can retransmit or provide the data through an ACE report, it said. The guidance applies only to "entries/entry summaries and [Foreign Trade Zone] admissions filed in ACE," said CBP. "Supporting documentation that was used to create the data transmitted to CBP must be maintained by the filer and is not covered by this recordkeeping guidance regardless of whether the entry or FTZ admission was filed in ACE or ACS." CBP also noted that "entry data and information previously presented to and retained by CBP is not subject to a recordkeeping penalty for non-production if such data or information is subsequently requested." The way in which a broker or filer provides copies of the transmissions to the importer of record will be up to those parties, said CBP. The guidance doesn't apply to "the recordkeeping requirements or entry/entry summary production requirements of the United States Court of International Trade," said CBP.

The Department of Energy will extend the comments deadline to Feb. 29 on a proposal that would require importers of products covered under “an applicable energy conservation standard” to file a “certification of admissibility” for each shipment of such products before their arrival at a U.S. port of entry, it said (here). The proposed rule would require the filing in the Automated Commercial Environment at time of entry (see 1512290020). DOE also granted a request to hold a public meeting to explain the proposal before comments are due, said a prepublication Federal Register notice released by the agency. That meeting will be Feb. 19, 9:30 a.m., at DOE headquarters, 10 days before comments are due, the notice said. The meeting also will be webcast, it said. Trade groups, including the Consumer Technology Association and Plumbing Manufacturers International recently said in a joint filing (here) that they're genuinely "confused" with the proposal because it “does little to explain the specific issue the Department is attempting to resolve with the proposed import data collection.” The groups had asked DOE to extend the comments deadline until 30 days after the meeting date.

CBP will begin accepting applications on Feb. 10 from customs brokers and self-filing importers that want to participate in a pilot to test electronic filing of Toxic Substances Control Act certifications required by the Environmental Protection Agency, it said (here). Participants in the pilot, which will be in operation for all commodities at all ports, will file TSCA certifications via EPA’s partner government agency (PGA) message set in the Automated Commercial Environment, said CBP.

Filing electronic data for Participating Government Agencies will likely become mandatory within the Automated Commercial Environment following the completion of individual pilots, said Maria Luisa Boyce, CBP’s senior advisor for trade engagement while speaking at a National Association of Foreign Trade Zones conference on Feb. 9. The use of the term "pilot" has been the source of some confusion and a lack of participation within ACE is among issues that lead to another delay to CBP's timelines for ACE (see 1602080042). CBP also posted a new version of its ACE Entry Summary Business Process document that reflects the new timeline (here).

The Environmental Protection Agency is amending its regulations on importation and exportation of ozone-depleting substances to implement electronic filing through the International Trade Data System (ITDS), in a direct final rule (here). Effective May 9, EPA is removing the requirement that importers submit a petition along with entry documentation for certain ozone depleting substances, and is eliminating references to paper forms that CBP will no longer use as it moves to the Automated Commercial Environment. If EPA receives adverse comments by March 10, it will withdraw the direct final rule and consider the changes as a proposal (here).

With the Automated Commercial Environment set to operate at full operational capacity, resulting in lower expected sustainment costs for ACE, the Department of Homeland Security is requesting $83.9 million to maintain ACE next fiscal year, $29.2 million less than DHS received for the program in fiscal 2016, according to the department’s fiscal 2016 budget request released Feb. 9 (here). “In FY 2017 ACE will be operating at full operational capacity with the Automated Commercial System (ACS) being decommissioned, thereby requiring less overall sustainment costs for the program,” DHS also asked for $118.1 million to maintain its Automated Targeting System for fiscal 2017, $3.8 million more than what was given for the preceding year.

CBP again adjusted its transition timeline for the Automated Commercial Environment following new concerns over the government's readiness to move from the Automated Commercial System, said CBP Feb. 8 (here). "While significant progress has been made, continued concerns about stakeholder readiness have necessitated an updated timeline for the mandatory transition to ACE for electronic entry and entry summary filing," said CBP. The shift marks the second major change to its schedule due to readiness uncertainty (see 1509010017).

CBP should adopt a “soft mandated” approach to its Feb. 28 Automated Commercial Environment deadline for cargo release entry types 01, 03 and 11, keeping the Automated Commercial System online as a fallback, and delay the deadline for both cargo release and entry summary for all other entry types until 90 days after programming has been finalized, said the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America in a letter to agency officials dated Feb. 2 (here).

The National Marine Fisheries Service is proposing new filing requirements at time of entry for imports of certain species of seafood the agency has deemed high-risk (here). Conceived as part of an administration-wide strategy to combat illegal, unreported and unregistered (IUU) fishing and seafood fraud (see 1503160016), filers would have to submit through the Automated Commercial Environment certain data elements and electronic documents in order to improve traceability of imports of the high-risk species. The importer of record would also have to maintain records on the chain of custody of their seafood imports, and obtain an International Fisheries Trade Permit for the high-risk species. Comments on the proposal are due April 5.