CBP Says Fewer ACE System Outages Compared to Last Year, Will Revise CSMS Messaging

There have been fewer outages in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) in January and February this year compared to the same months in 2012, said CBP in a notice on its Website. There were also fewer hours of unscheduled outages in 2012 compared to 2011, the agency said. CBP issued the notice in response to comments from the trade community "pointing to a perceived increase" in ACE outages, it said.

There are two weekly scheduled system outages, about which CBP recently started sending alerts to the trade through the Cargo Systems Messaging Service (CSMS), said CBP. "This practice may be creating the impression that more system outages are occurring than in the past," it said. "Therefore, CBP has changed the subject line of CSMS messages announcing planned outages to reinforce the fact that the outages are routine, planned events and not unplanned system downtime."