Automated Commercial Environment (ACE)

The calendar year 2013 satisfaction rates among Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) users fell to 39 percent, from 56 percent the previous year, said CBP (here). The agency "identified areas of concern and has developed a plan to address these issues." For example, CBP plans to improve ACE reports through the addition of " dashboards, workspace models, new reports, legacy reports redesign, migration to an Enterprise Data Warehouse, a common home page, a resource library, new training products, and an updated data dictionary," it said. CBP said it will also improve its training offerings and ease of use, it said. As part of the improvement efforts, the agency will consider adding the ability for single entry of broker information and antidumping and countervailing duty enhancements, it said.

CBP is accepting applications for senior roles in the Office of International Trade, the agency said in a CSMS message (here). Specifically, the agency is looking for executive directors for the Automated Commercial Environment Business Office and Regulations and Rulings, it said. Those positions are now filled with acting officials after Brenda Smith, now assistant commissioner, Office of International Trade and Sandra Bell, now deputy assistant commissioner, were promoted (see 14100714). Debbie Augustin is the acting head of the ACE Business Office and Glen Vereb is the acting leader of Regulations and Rulings (see 14100714).

CBP posted the transcript (here) and presentation (here) from a Dec. 11 webinar on Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) air manifest.

CBP is requesting comments by Feb. 9 on an existing information collection for applications to use the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). CBP proposes (here) to extend the expiration date of this information collection with a change to the burden hours.

While there has been some progress toward an International Trade Data System, the complexity of bringing together a disparate group of governmental bodies with differing statutory requirements continues to present some roadblocks, say government and industry officials. Still, there continues to be significant momentum from President Barack Obama's executive order in February that created a 2016 deadline for finishing ITDS (see 14021928), they said. For instance, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), an agency that is involved in regulating some imports but is far less involved at the border as other agencies, reported some movement on its work with CBP, though its clear there's still much to be done.

CBP will begin to test a centralized electronic bond program, known as eBond, the agency said in a notice (here). The test, scheduled to begin Jan. 3, will involve the use of eBonds between principals and sureties in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), with CBP as a third-party beneficiary, the agency said. All eBonds in the test must be transmitted by a surety or surety agent electronically, either through the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) or emailed to CBP for manual input into ACE, said CBP.

CBP posted the transcript (here) and presentation (here) from a Nov. 13 webinar on Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) eBond.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission will run a pilot to test electronic filing of certificates of compliance at entry before finalizing changes to its Part 1110 regulations, CPSC Commissioner Ann Marie Buerkle said. The agency is currently working with CBP to find volunteers to participate in the pilot, as well as to develop related software, according to a memo from her office. CPSC wants to have the pilot up and running by July 2015, but the timeline is dependent on CBP’s ability to accommodate the pilot, according to the memo.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- A wide-ranging update to the trade-related regulations of agencies outside CBP may not be possible by the 2016 deadline for completion of the International Trade Data System (ITDS), said CBP Office of International Trade Commissioner Brenda Smith. "People rarely want to change regulations," she said Oct. 17 at the Western Cargo Conference. "My guess is that, there is a lot more work than we are going to be able to get to by 2016," she said. Still, the Border Interagency Executive Council is already discussing ways to make improvements, such as aligning differing definitions between CBP and the Food and Drug Administration for unique identifiers and port facilities, she said.

Debbie Augustin, previously with the CBP Office of Information and Technology, will take over the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Business Office as the acting executive director, said Brenda Smith, assistant commissioner for the Office of International Trade and the previous head of the ACE, during the Western Cargo Conference on Oct. 17. Among the reasons Augustin is a good fit in that role is that she's an "absolute pitbull on deadlines," said Smith. Glen Vereb will be the acting executive director for the Office of Regulations and Rulings, said Smith. Vereb, previously executive director of the Border Security and Trade Compliance Division, takes over for Sandra Bell, who was promoted to deputy assistant commissioner (see 14100714).