Coming PGA Data Requirements Seen as Troubling as ACE Expansion Continues

PROVIDENCE -- The addition of more Partner Government Agencies (PGAs) to ACE in coming months is likely to drive a difficult expansion in the data collected by the government, said Amy Magnus, director of customs affairs and compliance at A.N. Deringer, while speaking at the Northeast Cargo Symposium on Nov. 10. Despite significant progress in ACE in 2016, the new PGAs are bound to be a source of anxiety as 2017 approaches, she said. The "most chilling" agencies to be added are Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service "Core" and the Fish and Wildlife Service, she said.

An increase in agency tariff flagging is another area of concern as the PGAs join ACE and the International Trade Data System, Magnus said. Entries that are flagged by an agency require the filer to respond with either additional information or a "disclaim" to say more information is not needed, she said. Some agencies are increasing the number of their tariff flags as part of the transition to ACE, likely creating more work for brokers and importers, she said. For example, FWS currently has about 400 tariff numbers that are flagged as potentially requiring data for that agency, but the agency will flag more than 2,000 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) codes when electronic filing in ACE is required, she said. A wide range of the industry, such as importers of leather or shirts with shell buttons, may be newly affected by the expansion, she said.

The flagging may also add a new level of liability, Magnus said. For instance, if a product is flagged by an agency and then later disclaimed, the agency will have a name connected to the disclaim if the agency later determines the agency did in fact have an interest in the product, she said. "These agencies are getting better and better at ensuring compliance," she said. "They have more information than they have ever had before and they are learning how to use it." The added complexities are one of the reasons the industry piloting for the agencies is limited, Magnus said. As the filer submits the new information through ACE there will also be a deluge of messaging back to the filer that will need sifting through, she said.

Fiat Chrysler Customs Compliance Manager Heidi Bray agreed that the coming PGAs are daunting. The added specificity required from agencies already on board with ACE, such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, already have forced some adjustments by importers, Bray said. For example, "it's a challenge to dig deep into the system to find out" the specific manufacturing information for internationally sourced car parts required by NHTSA, though the agency is providing waivers so the importers can figure out "programming," she said.

There are some persistent issues involving ACE release on the "land border environment" between the U.S. and Canada, Magnus said. "There is the manifest requirement for truck and rail, and then following up with release data and summary data," she said. "For whatever reason, it's not playing well." There's a plan at CBP to address this issue in early 2017 and it will improve the "manifest environment overall so that it works better and interfaces better with ACE," she said. This will help move toward the "Valhalla" of a "multi-modal manifest" that can be used for all forms of transportation, she said. CBP also needs to resolve some major problems with "squirrelly" release dates provided by the agency that make it difficult to know when goods are actually released by CBP, Magnus said.

There also are some concerns with FWS's plan to end designated port exception permits to authorize entries at ports with no FWS staff (see 1610240012), Magnus said. While worrisome, more discussion is expected and FWS may change course, she said. "It would be absurd to expect the trade to come to a port like Savannah and then have to bring those goods up to New York for inspections," she said. "There's been hue and cry" from a number of big companies that will be affected, and a number of trade associations are working on a letter to FWS about the designated port issue and the additional tariff code flagging, Magnus said. Trade groups involved in the letter include the National Retail Federation and the Coalition of New England Companies for Trade (CONECT), said Karen Kenny, president of CONECT, which hosted the event.