CPSC, Trade Community Contemplate Next Steps for ACE Filing as Alpha Pilot Concludes

The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recently ended e-filing alpha pilot went relatively smoothly, but expansion of e-filing to more entries could drastically increase costs, pilot participants said during a meeting with Consumer Product Safety Commission officials on Jan. 26 (here). Required data was mostly easy to obtain, but the manual process most used during the ACE pilot for entering data in CPSC’s data registry and tying it to entries will become burdensome as filing expands. Customs brokers at the meeting said the pilot went well. However, the complex disclaimer process CPSC anticipates using means the commission will need to be careful about the scope of its PGA message set, participants said.

Given the choice between transmitting a reference number on entry documentation tied to data elements on file in a CPSC product registry and filing of the required five data elements directly on the entry (see 1508130016), participants overwhelmingly chose the registry option. Of more than 15,000 PGA message sets filed during the pilot, which lasted from July 2 to Dec. 31 (see 1611220037), 99 percent used the registry approach, said Jim Joholske, deputy director of CPSC’s Office of Import Surveillance.

The five elements CPSC required in the pilot were easy to obtain, said pilot participants, who maintained the data in either their own systems or third-party systems. But for most, tying the data to specific entries was a manual process that could become tedious as more entries are filed. Getting data needed for the registry involved manually searching databases and extracting the data, said Ken Henson of Walmart. As more products are filed more resources would be required under the manual approach, so “there has to be some sort of automated solution,” Henson said.

Ikea went through the effort of developing an electronic link between certificate data and entry data, which was more difficult but gave the company insight into what it needs to do to tie the two sets of data together, Ikea’s Laurie Everill said. Other companies took different approaches. The fact that each company went about getting the data differently will be part of the challenge as CPSC moves toward the second stage “beta” pilot and full implementation, because the commission will need to develop a system capable of handling the different approaches, Henson said.

The volume of entries that would need to include CPSC’s PGA message set on entry documentation once CPSC’s PGA message set becomes mandatory suggests that the commission should develop a trusted trader program, Henson said. At some point, an importer that imports compliant products should not be in a situation where it’s filing hundreds of thousands of lines for products that are in compliance, he said. CPSC staff agrees, said John Blachere, an international trade specialist at the CPSC Office of Import Surveillance. Once a product has been reviewed it should be considered “clean,” and any issues that arise should be reviewed domestically, Blachere said.

For populating the product registry itself, though CPSC created a “web service” for directly tying internal company databases to the product registry, all participants chose to enter the data manually, said Lisa Reidmiller, CPSC’s project manager for the alpha e-filing pilot. Entering the data into the registry took three to five minutes per product once the data had been entered for the first time and the data could be reused, Magnus Bjork of Ikea said. Reidmiller expects more will use the web service as the pilot moves into the beta phase. But companies are hesitant to invest in new systems until requirements are closer to being set in stone, Henson said.

The alpha pilot went relatively smoothly for customs broker participants brokers at the meeting, said. For Expeditors, which programs its own Automated Broker Interface (ABI) software, it was “quite easy to get up and running pretty quickly,” Expeditors’ Ian Smith said. The registry number was simple to get from importer clients, Smith said. Geodis also had a relatively easy time of it, though its reliance on an outside software developer caused problems because the pilot was underway during the heart of overall ACE implementation, Jennifer Van Gundy of Geodis said. CPSC was originally hoping to hit a “sweet spot,” but delays in ACE mandatory use dates caused the pilot to fall “right in the middle of prime programming time for ACE,” CPSC’s Joholske said. Geodis’ biggest problem was adding the CPSC information to its internal product file, Geodis’ Chris Alonso said.

Some importers transmitted registry numbers to their brokers using electronic data feeds, while others used manual processes like spreadsheets, participants at the meeting said. For example, Walmart sent its broker a spreadsheet listing purchase orders tied to registry numbers. Seventh Avenue attached a reference number on the end of its electronic data feed to the broker tied to its product database.

A major issue CPSC will have to resolve as it moves forward is the number of tariff subheadings that will require disclaimers, participants said. Like the Fish and Wildlife Service, CPSC’s disclaim process isn’t a simple “filing not required,” but also requires a reason, Jennifer Horner of Walmart said. CPSC will need to decide which subheadings to flag, a process complicated by the agency’s broad jurisdiction. Currently, CPSC envisions a process whereby, if the proportion of a given subheading that requires certificates falls below a certain threshold, it will not flag and will not require disclaimers, Blachere said. Above a certain threshold, for example 70 percent or 80 percent, CPSC will flag and require disclaimers if a certificate is required. The problem is deciding where that threshold will fall and which products, such as imitation jewelry, don’t warrant the burden of requiring disclaimers, he said.

Going forward, CPSC should provide more time for participants to file in the pilot, Ikea’s Everill said. A longer pilot would allow participants to get a handle on what it’s seeing and make any modifications. CPSC’s Joholske agreed, saying the agency anticipates the beta pilot will last about a year. CPSC should also provide more frequent opportunities for conversations with participants, and test a trusted trader program as part of its beta pilot, Henson said.

With its alpha pilot concluded, CPSC will now prepare a report for the five CPSC commissioners evaluating the alpha pilot and giving recommendations on how it should proceed with the beta pilot. CPSC staff will then await guidance on how to move forward. While the alpha pilot was intended to “test the plumbing” by setting up the structure and process of filing, the beta pilot will be used to test and evaluate the data elements CPSC will require, Joholske said. CPSC has said it plans to open the beta pilot, intended to begin in 2017, to about 100 companies, many more than the nine allowed in the alpha e-filing pilot.

Alongside the rest of the government, CPSC is also going through a period of transition related to the change in administration, CPSC Chairman Eliot Kaye said in opening remarks at the meeting. There will eventually be different priorities and different leadership “sometime this year,” he said. Kaye hopes that, at least while the composition of CPSC is the same, it will “continue this effort” and do its part to be part of the single window, he said. Even with the leadership change, the trade community should continue to be a vocal presence and work with CPSC to “streamline the process,” Kaye said.