ACE Deployment of Reconciliation Oct. 1 to 'Streamline' Processes, CBP Official Says

Changes coming to the reconciliation program after CBP moves processing to ACE on Oct. 1 will “streamline” reconciliation filing, CBP National Reconciliation Program Manager Ace Kennedy said during a webinar held Aug. 19. Not only will filers be able to submit the entire reconciliation package electronically (see 1608120034), the system will also automatically populate fields for the underlying entry’s original value, duties, taxes and fees, meaning the filer no longer has to transmit that data, said Angelina Leyte of CBP's ACE Business Office. With the application process eliminated, the CBP system will now automatically verify the presence of the reconciliation bond rider required for reconciliation filing, so filers will no longer have to deposit a copy with CBP, Kennedy said. Filing will be opened up to all ports from the original 13, and will be processed by personnel from the Centers of Excellence and Expertise, she said.

CBP will publish a Federal Register notice within 30 days of the Oct. 1 deployment detailing the differences between reconciliation in ACE and the legacy Automated Commercial System (ACS), Leyte said. The notice will also include the new process to retroactively flag entry summaries that weren’t flagged at the time the summary was filed. The basic process for reconciliation will not change, with filers still able to request that a port reject a reconciliation entry so they can refile, and CBP still able to reject reconciliation entries if there are discrepancies, and CBP will follow the same procedures for sending requests for more information if it has questions, Leyte said.

Manual filing of reconciliation on paper will still be unavailable, Kennedy said. Though Importer Trade Activity reports have been eliminated, master file extract and liquidation extract reports will still be available, for a fee, and importers will be able to use ACE reports to track entries flagged for reconciliation.

CBP will eliminate blanket flagging on its end beginning Oct. 1 (see 1604220031), but that doesn’t mean importers can’t have their brokers or software “blanket flag” for them, Kennedy said. Importers currently participating in the program will simply be transitioned over from ACS to ACE on Oct. 1, but will no longer receive automatic blanket flagging from CBP, so such importers should work with their brokers to coordinate how they’re going to flag before that date.

ACE reconciliation is now available for testing in CBP’s ACE certification environment, Leyte said. Filers can now flag their type 01, 03 and 06 entries for issues they want to test with, she said. All importers have already been set to eligible for reconciliation in ACE, so they only need to “obtain a reconciliation bond rider” in the certification environment, she said. To begin participation, brokers should contact their vendors, and self-filers should contact Leyte directly at Angelina.Leyte@dhs.gov to set up a bond rider. Reconciliations transmissions are already coming into ACE certification, so CBP knows it’s up and running, Leyte said.