CBP and other agencies took major strides in FY 2013 toward improving trade data processing, said the International Trade Data System (ITDS) Board of Directors in a report to Congress. The statutorily required yearly report outlines progress on deploying a "single window" to automate Participating Government Agencies' (PGA) collection and processing of required import and export information. An increase in finished memorandums of understanding (MOU) between CBP and other agencies was among the notable updates since the previous report.
Automated Commercial Environment (ACE)
The Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) is the CBP's electronic system through which the international trade community reports imports and exports to and from the U.S. and the government determines admissibility.
The CBP single transaction bond (STB) accounting process suffered from deficiencies from 2000 to 2007 that resulted in failure to collect “substantial” antidumping and countervailing duties on Chinese garlic, crawfish tail meat, canned mushrooms and honey imports, said Acting CBP Commissioner Thomas Winkowski in a Jan. 2 letter to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. The letter is a response to Wyden concerns expressed in letters to CBP over recent months over failure to collect the relevant duties. Some sureties are continuing to contest CBP demands for payment or have declined payment after reaching insolvency, said Winkowski.
International Trade Today will periodically feature a Q&A with a customs industry professional. Our interviewee for this edition is Cindy Allen, Vice President of Brokerage U.S. for DHL Global Forwarding. Before joining DHL, Allen handled the difficult task of overseeing work on the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) as CBP's Executive Director of the ACE business office. Allen has also served as the Educational Institute Director with National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America and president of the Detroit Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association. She's been a licensed customs broker since 1990.
CBP continues to fail to collect vast sums of potential revenue in import duties on certain Chinese agriculture and seafood products that entered the U.S. since 2002, along with associated bonds posted on the imports, said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., at the Jan. 15 Finance Committee hearing on the nomination of Gil Kerlikowske for CBP Commissioner (see 14011521).
Entries submitted to CBP missing invoices require a new entry and cannot be updated in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) with a Post Summary Correction (PSC), CBP said in a CSMS message. The ACE Business Rules and Process Document "is currently being revised to include this additional guidance," CBP said.
CBP must ensure all efforts are exhausted to complete the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) in a timely manner and modernize the U.S. export process in order to fuel growth in the U.S. trade community, Gil Kerlikowske told the Senate Finance Committee at a Jan. 15 hearing to consider his nomination for CBP commissioner. President Barack Obama nominated Kerlikowske for the post in August (see 13080219). “CBP needs to continue to prioritize completion of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), that is the electronic automated system for the efficient transmission of data to all U.S. government agencies and that will ensure efficient and timely release of cargo,” said Kerlikowske. “I will devote a significant amount of time to ensure that very expensive computer system is up and running and performs the way it should for commerce.”
The customs brokers have been and will continue to be a necessary part of CBP's trade mission, but coming regulatory changes may require some "reinvention" within the industry, said Al Gina, a former head of CBP's Office of International Trade. Similarly, CBP made some major adjustments during Gina's time there due to new budgetary constraints, an issue that continues to loom over CBP as it works to develop both long and short-term initiatives, he said. Gina, who recently retired from the agency and is now a partner at CT Strategies (see 13111217), discussed a number of agency initiatives and his new work during a wide-ranging interview on Jan. 9.
CBP was scheduled to deploy its second piece of Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) under its new "agile" development program on Jan. 4, it said in a fact sheet on its site. The implementation will allow for an expansion of the Simplified Entry pilot. CBP didn't comment.
CBP plans to implement its second piece of Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) under its new "agile" development program on Jan. 4, the agency said in an update. The implementation will allow for an expansion of the Simplified Entry pilot.
CBP's cargo release pilot program now has 20 filer participants and about 194,000 Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) cargo release entries have been filed since the pilot began in May last year (see 12060516), said CBP in a Cargo Release Fact sheet (here). CBP also provided a separate broad overview on its work on ACE (here).