New Data Capabilities in ACE Among Major Benefits to CBP

With the major components of ACE nearing completion, the next focus at CBP will be on how best to use its new data tools included in the system, said Deborah Augustin, executive director of CBP's ACE Business Office, while speaking at the U.S. Air Cargo Industry Affairs Summit Oct. 4. CBP will seek to figure out how "to better leverage the data and information that we're using and that we're gaining from the system to facilitate our processes, promote more effective risk management, and keep moving towards the original goal and intent of the single window initiative," she said. The previous reliance on paper made it difficult for CBP to create a "baseline" for "time to release," but ACE will allow the agency to measure that data and figure out where future process improvements may be needed, Augustin said.

Despite the recent delay to the effective date for post-release functions in ACE to early 2017 (see 1609280072), CBP considers itself to have met the mandates included in a 2014 Executive Order that called for completion of the International Trade Data System by the end of 2016, she said. "From a Single Window implementation perspective, the development of the capabilities is complete," Augustin said. "We feel that we have fulfilled the intent of the single window. We have interfaces with our Partner Government Agencies. We have electronic alternatives to the Partner Government Agency forms, and so from that perspective the formal implementation is for all intents and purposes complete. This is really an adjustment of the deployment date to account for where things stand in terms of readiness."

New efficiencies are a necessity for agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration, which is seeing imports of goods it regulates increasing by about 10 percent per year, said Douglas Stearn, director of the FDA's Office of Enforcement and Import Operations. There are already some recent improvements, such as the doubling of "may proceeds" and a decrease of document requests, he said. Entry processing is also down by about 18 percent, he said. Stearn also briefly mentioned an FDA proposal for new ACE requirements (see 1609010044). While unable to discuss the final rule in detail, "I think you'll find that we were considerate" of the comments filed, he said. The FDA is looking at other improvements too, such as an update to its product code builder, he said. The FDA's Import Trade Auxiliary Communication System (ITACS) pilot that allows for email notices from the agency (see 1606220042) is also expected to go to "full availability" this year, Stearn said.

The FDA, like other agencies, is often caught in the middle of industry complaints that it is doing too much import sampling and political complaints that it isn't doing enough sampling. For example, John Van Wallaghen, vice president Customs and Trade Compliance, UPS Supply Chain Solutions, noted that more than 99 percent of the goods inspected by some agencies are eventually let through, indicating there's room to improve targeting. At the same time, others complain that only 1% of FDA-regulated goods were sampled for non-compliance, Stearn said. The low percentage of inspections continues to be a major sticking point for the consideration of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, particularly among the seafood industry, he said.

While the ACE deployment continues to be an impressive feat, whether ACE represents a true success remains to be seen, said Michael Ford, chief compliance officer at BDP International. Still unclear is if ACE will "lead" the world as a model for electronic customs processing, he said. "Is it the standard that we want and is it the standard that is going to deliver the promise?" Ford said. Companies hope to only need to develop one system that can be used internationally for customs, rather than several, he said.

Stability must be a focus in the near future, said Van Wallaghen of UPS. "It's been a little bit of a roller coaster" with some "downtime in very critical moments," he said. "We got to get back to where we were with [the Automated Commercial System] at the very least and stabilize the system. I know it keeps getting better but we have still had issues there." The other agencies should also be careful not to reverse efficiency gains created in ACE by adding data elements that can be tough to acquire, he said. Still, UPS is already seeing a number of ACE-related benefits, such as the use of ACE Reports to check shipments of goods subject to antidumping or countervailing duty orders, he said.