The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General has issued a report containing an independent audit conducted by KPMG LLP that addresses the strengths and weaknesses of U.S. Customs and Border Protection's fiscal year 2007 internal controls over financial reporting.
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 Launches CSMS - A New Information System (to Replace ABI Messages, Etc. Effective February 11th)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a notice and press release to its Web site announcing its launch of a new means of delivering information on its Automated Commercial Trade Interface Systems.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted PowerPoint presentations on Entry Summary, Accounts, and Revenue (ESAR) A1 and A2. The presentation on ESAR A1 highlights the functionality and benefits (additional/enhanced Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) account types, ACE becoming the system of record for certain data elements, etc.) that were delivered with its September 2007 deployment.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued an ABI administrative message announcing that all Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) reports would be unavailablefrom 7 pm Monday, January 14, 2008 until approximately 7 am Tuesday, January 15, 2008 (eastern time). Preliminary Monthly Statements (PMS) were to be available on Tuesday morning January 15, 2008 and all data was to be current. CBP adds that data in other reports may not be current until 7:00 am on January 16, 2008. (Adm: 08-0001, dated 01/14/08, available at http://www.brokerpower.com/admmsgs/2008/08-0001.html)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a memo on the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements' (CITA's) recent determinations that certain fabrics cannot be supplied by the domestic industry in commercial quantities in a timely manner under the U.S.-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA, also abbreviated as CAFTA-DR). As a result, such fabric is added to the list in Annex 3.25 of the DR-CAFTA in unrestricted quantities.
The following are documents which CBP updates frequently (weekly, monthly, etc.):
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted an Automated Commercial Environment "Topic" document entitled "ACE 101," which provides an introduction to ACE. An overview of ACE is provided, as well as information on the ACE Secure Data Portal, current ACE features (account management, reports tool, Periodic Monthly Statement (PMS), Entry Summary, Accounts and Revenue (ESAR) A1, etc.), future ACE features (ESAR A2, Cargo Control Release), and additional ACE resources. (ACE 101 document, posted 01/03/08, available at http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/toolbox/about/modernization/ace_welcome/ace101.ctt/ace101.pdf)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted to its Web site instructions for retrieving forgotten Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Portal passwords. CBP notes that a forgotten password can be retrieved with an ACE user ID without having to contact the ACE Help Desk. (Password reset instructions, dated 12/17/07, available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/toolbox/about/modernization/ace_welcome/password.reset.xml.)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued its weekly tariff rate quota and tariff preference level commodity report as of December 31, 2007. This report includes TRQs on various products such as beef, sugar, dairy products, peanuts, cotton, cocoa products, tobacco, certain BFTA, DR-CAFTA, Israel FTA, JFTA, MFTA, SFTA, UAFTA (AFTA) and UCFTA (Chile FTA) non-textile TRQs, etc. Each report also includes the AGOA, ATPDEA, BFTA, DR-CAFTA, CBTPA, Haitian HOPE, MFTA, NAFTA, SFTA, and UCFTA TPLs and TRQs for qualifying apparel and/or other textile articles, the TRQs on worsted wool fabrics, etc. (CBP's weekly TRQ/TPL commodity report, dated 12/31/07, available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/import/textiles_and_quotas/commodity/)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted to its Web site a notice announcing that the Central Piedmont Community College and the International Freight Forwarders/Customs Brokers Association, in cooperation with CBP, will be holding a seminar (with am and pm sessions) on the Automated Commercial Environment on January 15, 2008 in Charlotte, NC. (If the January 15, 2008 sessions fill, there will be another session on January 16, 2008.)