Streamlined Protest, Reconciliation Processes Set for October Release in ACE, Says Developer

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Big changes are on the way for protest filing and reconciliation as part of the deployment of ACE post-summary capabilities currently set for October, said Celeste Catano of software developer Kewill during the annual conference of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America on April 19. Alongside new ACE systems for liquidation and drawback, changes to how protests are filed will allow lawyers to submit and keep track of protests, while increased automation of the reconciliation process will make life easier for brokers in several ways, said Catano.

According to CBP, only about 10 percent of protests are filed through the automated broker interface, and many people file them in the ABI only to get “clocked in” before the filing deadline and then follow up with paperwork, which didn’t save any work for CBP, said Catano. Protests will move to the ACE portal, and new protest filer accounts will be created to allow access to the system for lawyers. Supporting documents will be able to be filed through the document imaging system (DIS), she said. Though paper filing will still be an option, the shift to a fully electronic process will facilitate the ability for CBP to send protests to the Centers of Excellence and Expertise (CEEs) and to other ports.

Reconciliation is also changing “quite a bit,” said Catano, with some changes simplifying the process for filers. Extra files and reports that filers had to give to customs on top of the reconciliation entry will be included in the ABI message itself, she said. Filers will no longer have to send the original duty amount, eliminating the problem of duty mismatches. CBP is also getting rid of blanket flagging, so while brokers and importers will have to keep better track of entries that may need reconciliation, they will not have to file reconciliation on everything they have flagged, she said. CBP did add some new boxes that must be checked on reconciliation entries, which while “not terrible,” somebody will have to check them, Catano said.

Smaller changes are coming for liquidation, with the data set brokers get from CBP not currently set to change, said Catano. CBP is planning on moving from its current 314 day process to a true 365 day process for no change liquidations, said Catano. CBP will post its liquidation notices on an “electronic bulletin board” that “people will be able to access,” she said. The agency will also allow for liquidation of unpaid summaries, she said.

Finally, CBP is moving drawback to a fully electronic process, with filing through an ABI message and supporting documentation submitted via DIS, said Catano. CBP will process the drawback at the 10-digit level. The agency will also improve its validations to better integrate drawback with other systems, so I will be able to see if a protest is on file, if the entry is flagged for reconciliation, and whether the entry has liquidated yet. CBP is also working to improve its system controls against overpaying refunds, she said.