TSN Leadership Urges CBP to Allow Filing of FTZ, Quota Entries in Advance of ACE Deadline

Trade Support Network leadership issued recommendations to CBP in recent days that the agency allow live filing of quota and quota-related entry types in the Automated Commercial Environment in advance of CBP’s Feb. 28 mandatory use date, said Tom Gould, co-chair the TSN Trade Leadership Council’s Integrated Communications Subcommittee. CBP’s current plan to deploy ACE capabilities for quota-related entry types only after the legacy Automated Commercial System is switched off has TSN leadership “quite concerned” about the lack of time for live industry testing of several entry types, including foreign-trade zone entries, said Gould.

Currently, ACE filing for all entry summaries under entry types 02, 06, 07, 12, 21, 22, 23, 31, 32, 34, and 38 will not be available until Feb. 28, whether or not the specific entry is subject to quota (see 1509030030). That has caused concern among the trade community that the affected entry types will not be sufficiently tested, and that ACS will not be available as a fallback should issues arise with these entry types after ACE becomes mandatory (see 1509030068). CBP has said that the reason for the quick turnaround is that it does not want quota amounts counted in two separate filing systems, said Gould, a customs consultant with Sandler Travis.

Given that many entries filed under some of the 11 affected entry types are not subject to quota, CBP should “decouple” the quota entries from the non-quota entries and allow filing in ACE of the non-quota entries, says the Trade Leadership Council recommendation, according to Gould. CBP has already deployed a validation in ACE that rejects entries that are subject to quota, and a CBP official said in May the agency could use it to reject only quota entries for entry types that include both quota and non-quota (see 1506030054). However, CBP has said in the past that the agency would not use the validation to allow filers to submit non-quota entries for the affected entry types ahead of the ACS-ACE switchover (see 1506300034). The TSN is now “pushing them in that direction,” said Gould. CBP did not immediately comment.

In another recommendation to CBP, TSN leadership also urged the agency to allow filing of quota entries under entry type 02 for a limited subset of merchandise, said Gould. For example, CBP could pick a single quota, like raw sugar, or a single HTS subheading, and allow filing in advance of Feb. 28, giving time for live filing and testing of quota before ACS is switched off, said Gould. “That way filers can file in the new system, and if it doesn’t work they can revert back to the old system,” he said. As things currently stand, if the trade community uncovers problems with quota entries when live filing is allowed on Feb. 28, “there’s no backup,” said Gould.