CBP Again Pushes Back ACE Timeline

February 8, 2016 by Tim Warren|Top News

CBP again adjusted its transition timeline for the Automated Commercial Environment following new concerns over the government's readiness to move from the Automated Commercial System, said CBP Feb. 8 (here). "While significant progress has been made, continued concerns about stakeholder readiness have necessitated an updated timeline for the mandatory transition to ACE for electronic entry and entry summary filing," said CBP. The shift marks the second major change to its schedule due to readiness uncertainty (see 1509010017).

The agency will no longer require use of ACE as of Feb. 28 for electronic entries and entry summaries and Food and Drug Administration, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Lacey Act data, the agency said. Instead, CBP will on that date "start divesting" ACS by offering limited support, performing ACS maintenance during peak business hours, and providing processing priority to ACE entries.

The first ACE deadline will come on March 31, when entry summaries with no PGA data will be required to be filed within ACE for entry types 01, 03, 11, 23, 51 and 52. Also on that date, both entries and entry summaries for APHIS (Lacey Act) and NHTSA entries with no other PGA data will be required for these entry types, said CBP.

Starting May 28, ACE will be required for electronic entries of types 01, 03, 11, 23, 51 and 52 when not paired with PGA data (other than Lacey Act and NHTSA). Starting that date, entry and entry summaries for entry type 06 (Consumption Foreign-Trade Zone), absent the same PGA data, will be required to go through ACE, said CBP.

At an as-yet-unannounced date this summer, CBP plans to further expand the entry types to be required within ACE to types 02, 07, 12 (except textiles), 21 and 22, and entry summary types 02, 07, 12 (except textiles), 21, 22, 31, 32, 34 and 38.

Notably, the revised timeline leaves out firm dates for the Partner Government Agencies that would have been required in July under CBP's previous plans. Instead, these agencies will, by this summer, "provide, if they have not already done so, functionality for filing electronically in ACE," said CBP. The schedule also makes only a brief mention of the Food and Drug Administration, a major agency involved in the move to ACE. FDA filings will continue to be allowed in ACS through May 28 "to provide more time for industry to transition to ACE," said CBP. "Further information will be provided on the mandatory filing in ACE for FDA data."

The revised schedule also lacks firm dates for mandatory use of other electronic portions of the cargo process, which had been required in ACE by Oct. 1. "Further information will be provided on the deployment of remaining core trade processing capabilities in ACE, and the mandatory use of ACE for all remaining electronic portions of the CBP cargo process," said CBP. "We would like to reiterate that the updated transition timeline aligns with the December 2016 deadline for full implementation of the Single Window via ACE," said CBP.

Industry groups offered appreciation for the additional time to adjust. "The new implementation dates for ACE are very welcome and show that CBP and the PGA are definitely listening to the trade community and adopting the flexibility needed to ensure the transition is successful," said Express Association of America Executive Director Mike Mullen. The group's "members are engaging with the Government on the ACE pilots and making daily progress on working through the challenges to this major IT transition. With the Government continuing to take a flexible approach, we are confident we will achieve our common goals on ACE this year," he said. American Association of Exporters and Importers CEO Marianne Rowden said the changes give "companies more breathing room to resolve their issues." There's been a number of calls for delays to CBP's schedule in recent weeks (see 1602050040 and 1601140031).