No Immediate Plan To Prohibit Hybrid Filing Through Regulation, CBP's Whittenburg Says

There's no imminent plan to explicitly eliminate the ability to file on paper and electronically as part of the ACE transition, Cynthia Whittenburg, deputy assistant commissioner in CBP's Office of International Trade, said during a conference call with reporters July 27. CBP previously sought input on prohibiting filings that are a combination of electronic and paper filings (see 1510090017), which raised some concerns within industry (see 1511100030). While that is still the goal further down the line, the processing improvements of using ACE alone is seen by CBP as incentive enough to make such a regulation unnecessary for now, she said.

While CBP's Trade Enforcement Task Force is focused on the new antidumping and countervailing duty evasion regulations required under the customs reauthorization law (see 1607260019), that group will soon look at potential regulations related to forced-labor provisions of that law (see 1606170040), Whittenburg said. The agency will consider regulations that could "add value" and is talking to the trade community about how to move forward, she said.

Whittenburg described the July 23 cutover from the Automated Commercial System to ACE as a "historic moment for CBP." Despite some anxiety ahead of the transition (see 1607220064), only "minor IT issues" emerged after the weekend of July 23, Whittenburg said. "All is well, considering the major feat of that hard cutover," she said. During the call, CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske also celebrated the successful switch and the work by industry and the other agencies involved.