ACE Deadline for Foreign-Trade Zone Admissions Postponed to December

CBP will push back the mandatory use date for e214 foreign-trade zones admissions in ACE to Dec. 9, Acting CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America Government Affairs Conference on Sept. 11 in Washington. The delay of the deadline, previously set for Sept. 16, comes in response to concerns from industry, McAleenan said. The agency planned to make a formal announcement on Sept. 11, he said.

The National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones asked CBP to delay its Sept. 16 mandatory use date for electronic foreign-trade zone admissions in ACE, in a letter to CBP officials dated Sept. 7. A “lift-and-shift” of the e214 from the legacy Automated Commercial System to ACE has not gone as smoothly as planned, with testing of the e214 capability in ACE revealing a “disturbing number of systemic problems and new issues that need to be addressed before the roll-out,” the letter said.

New issues “appear to be surfacing daily, and the certification environment is being constantly updated in response to these issues. Each time the environment is updated, all testing must be redone to identify any new issues,” the letter said. As of the time the letter was written, days out from the deadline, an “end-to-end test” of standard zone admissions processes and direct delivery processes had not yet been successfully completed, NAFTZ said. “With such a dynamic certification environment within a very tight timeframe, we believe it is too risky to proceed with a September 16 full transition to ACE,” it said.

The situation is also complicated by major disruptions caused by Hurricane Harvey to petroleum refiners, which are major users of FTZs, as well as a second major interruption to CBP operations in Puerto Rico and Florida caused by Hurricane Irma, the letter said. “This is not the time to implement a seriously flawed e214 transition,” it said. CBP should delay the transition “at least 4-6 weeks plus any additional time necessary” to address problems that have emerged, make corrections and test those corrections, the letter said. “This will provide the time needed to ensure a fully successful e214 transition and uninterrupted processing by both CBP and the trade.”

Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of the letter.