Regulatory Structure, Timeline for ACAS Remains Uncertain

The timing and structure for a long-awaited CBP proposal for Air Cargo Advance Screening (ACAS) rules remains very much uncertain, said Elizabeth Merritt, director, Cargo Services for Airlines for America. "It's anybody's guess when something will come out of CBP," said Merritt. Merritt and others discussed the issue during a Jan. 7 webinar held by the Airforwarders Association (AfA). ACAS, which involves the early transmission of air cargo data to CBP to lessen the impact of data and screening referrals, has been operating as a pilot program since 2011.

At the earliest, a proposed rulemaking would come out by the end of 2015, she said. "If that happens, then we would expect full implementation probably some time in 2017," she said. The AfA previously said it expected a proposal in the spring (see 14091114). The program will be voluntary for forwarders and it will be up to each forwarder to assess whether participation is worthwhile, she said. Several factors should play into that decision, Merritt said. "If you're coming from, for example, a high-risk area of the world, well you can expect that you're going to get a lot more referrals than if you're operating from a low-risk section of the world."

Also unclear is what the regulatory structure will be, said Merritt. She and AfA Executive Director Brandon Fried have worked closely with CBP to make sure the regulatory regime isn't "overly burdensome in order to encourage freight forwarder participation," but without seeing the actual proposal, it's not clear what the specifics of the program will be. As such, "we don't quite know the regulatory structure that CBP will require" to be able to transmit in ACAS, though the program is expected to allow for foreign and domestic forwarders alike to file in ACAS if approved by the agency, she said. CBP has been adamant that it will not build a portal specific for ACAS, though Merritt said she's pointed out to the agency how easy it would be to tweak the existing importer security filing portal to make it usable for ACAS.

There's potential that the proposal will call for bonding requirements and a penalty regime for the registered ACAS filers, said Merritt. However, CBP should look at the overall compliance rate of the filer rather than individual instances of non-compliance, she said. Importer fines and penalties for third-party ACAS non-compliance seem unlikely to be part of the regulatory proposal, she said. "Not having the regulatory structure in front of us yet, you can't say for sure, but that has never been part of the discussion," Merritt said. "I don't envision that it would involve penalties for importers" unless "they have actively signed up to do the ACAS filing," she said.

Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of Merritt's presentation. A recording of the webinar is available (here).