CBP to Test Expanded RLF in ACE

CBP will test several new features for Remote Location Filing as part of the agency's move toward required use of the Automated Commercial Environment electronic filing, CBP said in a notice (here). CBP will use the pilot to consider the reliability and viability of making more entry types eligible for RLF, it said. RLF allows for national permit holders to file an entry electronically away from where the goods are being entered.

Test participants will be able to file entry type 52 (Government – Dutiable) in additional to the previously available types, said CBP. The agency will also use an expanded list of port locations where RLF entries may be filed, it said. Currently, RLF is only allowed for entry types 01 (formal consumption entries), 03 (formal consumption entries subject to antidumping or countervailing duties), and 11 (informal entries), it said. The participants will be required to file the invoice data through the Document Image System and not the Electronic Invoice Program.

CBP will also test the use of eBond as part of the pilot, the agency said. "The use of eBond for submitting single transaction bonds is mandatory and exclusive, and participants may not submit a single transaction bond through any other manner for RLF entries filed under this test," said CBP. "Test participants are required to follow and abide by all terms, conditions and requirements of the DIS and eBond tests." The test will begin Aug. 12 and will last until CBP decides to end it, the agency said. Once completed, CBP will evaluate the test. The pilot "is in furtherance of key CBP modernization initiatives and the development of ACE" and applies only to entries 'certified for cargo release from summary' filed through" ACE, it said.

(Federal Register 07/13/15)