CPSC Working With CBP to Implement New 'Two-Way' Messaging in ACE

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is moving into the latter stages of an effort to streamline ACE messaging to CBP and entry filers, said John Blachere, trade specialist at CPSC’s Office of Import Surveillance, at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America government affairs conference on Sept. 23.

An initiative that has been in the works for years, CPSC’s two-way messaging project will eventually allow CPSC and CBP to use ACE messaging to coordinate holds and exams, and also push those messages to filers on the status of CPSC-regulated shipments. Currently, CPSC notifies CBP through phone calls and emails if it wants to examine a shipment, which “makes no sense” and is a “very slow process,” Blachere said.

In the new system, upon filing of an entry that falls in one of about 315 tariff schedule subheadings for which CPSC currently shares entry data with CBP, an “under review” message will be sent to CBP and the filer to let them know CPSC is interested in the shipment. Once the shipment has arrived, a clock is going to start ticking in CPSC’s system. If CPSC flags the shipment for exam or a hold intact during that time, CBP will act accordingly. If no manual action is taken by CBP, the entry will get a “may proceed.”

CPSC has over the past couple of years built its own internal “technical side,” and had a “kick-off” meeting on Sept. 23 to begin its work with CBP on implementing the system and working through “some of the kinks,” Blachere said. CPSC plans to take a gradual approach to implementation to ensure that the new system is rolled out “effectively without impacting legitimate trade,” he said.

While Blachere would “love for this to happen all within the fiscal year,” that may not be a realistic time frame, he said. After the first phase is deployed, CPSC will then roll out a second phase related to sharing of exam information between CPSC and CBP, and then a third on sharing of exam disposition data. “That’s the expectation longer term. We’ll see how long it takes; I thought it’d be done by now,” Blachere said.

Meanwhile, CPSC staff is preparing a briefing package on its e-filing PGA message set for consideration by the commission in the upcoming fiscal year, Blachere said. The commission would still have to approve the program, which has been in the piloting and study phase since 2016 (see 1809260026). “We have made some suggestions as to what to do. We’ll see what the results are going to be, and you’ll hear about it soon after,” he said.