Use of ACE for EPA Likely Required in Fall 'at Earliest'; NMFS Final Rule on ACE Nearly Ready

The use of ACE by the Environmental Protection Agency will likely become mandatory in the "fall time frame at the earliest," Roy Chaudet of EPA said during a July 7 webinar about Partner Government Agencies (PGAs) and the move to ACE. That agency is running several pilots including for non-road vehicle imports and pesticide notices of arrival, ozone-depleting substances and Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) submissions (see 1606090020). "In terms of our pilots ending and our reporting requirements put in place, those will all be later this year," he said.

CBP is working on a rulemaking proposal to end the EPA pilots and "I would urge you all to take a very close look at those proposed regulations that come out, and some of you will be very pleasantly surprised -- and I'm going to leave it at that," Chaudet said. The EPA is also working to eventually flag some 800 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) classifications used for TSCA, he said.

A rule from the National Marine Fisheries Service on the International Trade Data Service implementation is "near final," said Dale Jones, who is the ITDS coordinator within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, under which NMFS is a division. Following the proposed rule (see 1512300015), NMFS "made some changes and we're awaiting some final words from [the Office of Management and Budget] as well as our Commerce headquarters on that, but hope to publish that as a final rule by the end of this month," with an effective date near the end of August, he said. That final rule will likely consolidate seafood permit procedures and require a necessary international documentation to be sent in the Document Image System, he said. Each of the agencies involved has differing requirements on whether original documents are necessary or DIS submissions are sufficient.

While the NMFS requires submission of "program related data regardless of value" and does not allow for de minimis exception for shipments under $800, NMFS is working with CBP to "determine a process for how to deal with that." Roughly a third of NMFS filings fall under that $800 value, Jones said. While CBP recently increased the de minimis value threshold to $800, there's an open question as to how the PGAs are affected (see 1605160030). Meanwhile, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives decided to extend its ITDS pilot (see 1507290025), which was originally slated to end by June, until August due to a lack of participation, said Desiree Dickinson, industry liaison from the ATF imports branch. That agency isn't planning to include HTS flagging, she said.

Unlike other agencies, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is "just beginning to get ready for our pilot," said Sheila Einsweiler, senior wildlife inspector at FWS. Asked about issues with HTS flagging for FWS, Einsweiler noted that the ACE flagging differs from the flagging in the Automated Commercial System, and suggested any filers having problems inquire with FWS about any problem commodities. CBP is also working on "a companion piece available for the brokers that identifies the Fish and Wildlife government agency processing codes," likely to become available in August, she said. Filing in ACE for FWS won't be required "very soon," considering the necessary proposed rulemaking is yet to be issued, Einsweiler said.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service's prior notice requirement will automatically be fulfilled by filers of FSIS data in ACE, said Robert Berczik, international issues analyst at FSIS. The agency requires a prior notice of an application to the import facility "no later than the time the entry is made with customs," he said. "A wonderful thing about being in the electronic environment for FSIS is if you're filing your PGA data electronically, then, by default, you are meeting the prior notice requirement," he said. While FSIS does use HTS flagging, it is not perfect in recognizing commodities and it's ultimately up to the importer of record to ensure that any necessary information goes to the correct agency, he said.