CBP said Oct. 4 it would delay its deployment for a number of new Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) features planned on Oct. 5. "CBP is monitoring the situation for developments and will continue to do so until funding is put in place to re-open the government," it said in a CSMS message. "CBP is ready to deploy and will ensure the Trade Community receives advanced notification of any decision to deploy." The CBP announcement followed a National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America notice saying the deployment would be put off (see 13100417).
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.
CBP is postponing the planned Oct. 5 deployment of several Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) pieces due to the government shutdown, the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America said in an alert. While CBP is ready to deploy on schedule, "due to limited personnel resources within CBP--notably the absence of Client Representatives--and complications being experienced with normal release and post-release processing often related to [Partner Government Agency] systems and their resource limitations during the hiatus, CBP did not want to put further stress on the trade at this time," NCBFAA said.
CBP made available a full report on the Aug. 7 meeting of the CBP Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC). Among the subcommittee recommendations at the meeting were:
CBP released a detailed timeline on planned changes for the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) that will come as part of its first deployment of its "agile" strategy. The agency will implement the first of seven ACE deployments on Oct. 5, it said. New capabilities will include an ACE Reports Software Upgrade, ACE Cargo Release Pilot Expansion, Partner Government Agency Message Set, Entry Summary Validations.
The Food and Drug Administration is close to finishing its high-level review of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with CBP that would allow the two agencies to share importer filing information through the International Trade Data System, said an FDA official, speaking at the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of American Government Affairs Conference Sept. 23. The MOU is now with the agency's Office of the General Counsel, which is working to address some “minor issues,” said Ted Poplawski, special assistant to the director in FDA’s Division of Import Operations.
The Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Cargo Release/Simplified Entry (SE) Status Notification documentation for Oct. 5 deployment was reposted online on Sept. 10 as a future ACE ABI (Automated Broker Interface) CATAIR (Customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements) chapter (here), CBP said. CBP said the ACE Cargo Release/SE input documentation was reposted to include a correction to the Carrier Code in the SE16 record, which should be listed as 4AN to accommodate various codes. The certification environment is now available to trade members for testing.
CBP made a change to the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) reports Sept. 7, allowing customs brokers with an ACE Secure Data Portal account to access AM-100 liquidation reports, the agency said in a CSMS message. Previously, only the importers could access the report. CBP also issued a document outlining how to use the AM-100 report (here). The agency made the reports available to importers in 2011 (see 11092912).
CBP’s Pharmaceutical, Health and Chemicals Center of Excellence and Expertise met with industry partners from government and private sector in August to discuss issues facing pharmaceutical, health and chemical industries such as disruptions to supply chains, CBP said. According to a news release, the CEEs “process participating importers within 10 CEE industries by account” and allow CBP to quickly adapt to industry changes. CBP said that CEE staff uses “industry knowledge to resolve holds and mitigate requests for information or CF-28s—oftentimes before the accounts know it themselves.” CEE Director Leon Hayward said these efforts reduce costs for the trade community and that the CEEs were “designed as the centerpiece of CBP’s 21st Century trade modernization efforts.” Other industry speakers called the CEEs “the nexus for engaging with the government on all questions for their imports.”
CBP plans to implement its first piece of Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) under its new "agile" development program on Oct. 5, the agency said in an ACE Trade Owner Account update. The implementation will allow for an expansion of the Simplified Entry pilot.
Pharmaceutical and trade groups urged FDA to tread lightly as it puts in place new requirements for drug importers under the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA). The National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA), American Association of Exporters and Importers (AAEI), and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) each submitted comments in favor of an FDA definition of importer that recognizes that trade services firms like customs brokers can’t be responsible for compliance. They also said FDA should be careful not to impose new data submission requirements that are too onerous. AAEI and PhRMA pushed FDA to establish a trusted drug importer program based on the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT), and NCBFAA cautioned against a repeat of the U.S. agent dilemma caused by FDA’s foreign food facility registration requirements.