Upcoming ACE Upgrades for Lacey Act, Priority Edits, Post Summary Corrections, M1 Pilot
Officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection discussed the agency’s plans for upcoming Automated Commercial Environment releases and other ACE-related issues at the April 2010 National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America annual conference.
Highlights of their comments include the following:
CBP Hopes to Have ACE Ready to Accept Lacey Data in FY 2010
CBP sources state ACE is supposed to incorporate the Lacey Act requirements into the system sometime within fiscal year 2010, which would allow the trade to file their Lacey Act declarations in ACE. Due to scheduling issues, CBP cannot give a specific date.
New Task Force to Examine How to Best Implement 24 High Priority Edits
CBP officials announced that CBP is creating a task force on the 24 “high priority” ACE entry summary edits that were requested by the trade. According to a letter from ACE Executive Business Owner Baldwin, the task force will include CBP and trade members, and it will examine how to best achieve the objectives of enhanced entry summary edits within the current budget environment.
(In 2007, CBP proposed that 63 current Automated Commercial System (ACS) edits specific to the commercial preparation of the entry summary not be carried over into ACE. TSN reviewed and evaluated CBP's proposal and responded with 24 edits that members believed were critical to keep. CBP's proposal was originally called “Edit Lite” and is also referred to as "Edit Modification.")
PSC Functionality Expected in Late Summer/Early Fall
Post Summary Correction functionality is expected to “go live” in late summer or early fall 2010.
A PSC transaction will be a “full replace” of the existing ACE entry summary as a new version. It will replace the existing Post Entry Amendment (PEA) hardcopy process for ACE entry summaries.
PSCs will only be submitted for types 01 and 03 ACE entry summaries. PSCs will be processed through all existing validations including Census warnings. Liquidation will be automatically unset for PSCs so they can be processed.
(Currently, entry types 01, 03, and 11 can be filed in ACE.)
Efficiency Gains with PSCs
CBP provided the following as efficiency gains that will come with PSC functionality:
- Automated submission of correction at the line level
- Receipt of ABI confirmation message upon PSC system acceptance
- Improved tracking via ABI entry summary query for liquidation status
- Availability of latest accepted version of the entry summary through ACE Secure Data Portal
- Eliminates quarterly PEA requirement for ACE entry summaries -- filer may submit changes as discovered
- Eliminates need to mail a cover letter, CBP Form 7501, corrected invoice
- Promotes process uniformity
EDI Imaging to Come Soon After PSCs
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) imaging is expected to be delivered soon after PSC functionality. CBP hopes to have it delivered by the end of 2010.
Volunteers to Pilot M1 for Ocean and Rail as Soon as Late 2010
CBP hopes to pilot ACE e-Manifest: Ocean and Rail (M1) by the end of 2010. Trade testing of M1 will begin in 2010 no less than 90 days prior to “going live.” CBP will issue a Federal Register notice soliciting volunteers to pilot M1.
Benefits of M1
According to CBP, M1 will include the following enhanced functionality and improved procedures for ocean and rail:
- Enable CBP to place and remove holds at the conveyance, container, master bill as well as a partial piece count level
- Participating Government Agencies (PGA) will have “hold,” “hold recommended,” and “hold removal” functionality
- Informs carriers which PGA has held their merchandise
- Client representatives will be able to view on-line, side by side comparisons of Bill of Lading versions to aid them in their trouble shooting tasks
- Enables in-bond participants to add an Agriculture Permit number with in-bond movement requests
(See ITT’s Online Archives or 04/12/10 news, (Ref: 10041205), for BP summary announcing that CBP has funding to complete these ACE releases, etc.
See ITT’s Online Archives or 03/24/10 news, (Ref: 10032405), for BP summary of the Administration’s list of planned ACE projects.
See ITT’s Online Archives or 03/05/10 news, (Ref: 10030505), for BP summary of the Administration’s FY 2011 budget request for ACE which mentioned this steady state.)
CBP PowerPoint presentations (from 04/14/10) available via email by sending a request to documents@brokerpower.com
Baldwin’s letter (dated 03/15/10) available via email by sending a request to documents@brokerpower.com