At the Automated Commercial Environment Exchange VI conference held July 30-August 1, 2007 in Brooklyn, NY, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials discussed the deployment of ACE Entry Summary, Accounts, and Revenue (ESAR) A1, which is currently scheduled to be deployed on August 25, 20071.
Licensed Customs Broker
Customs brokers are entities who assist importers in meeting federal requirements governing imports into the United States. Brokers can be private individuals, partnerships, associations or corporations licensed, regulated and empowered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Customs brokers oversee transactions related to customs entry and admissibility of merchandise, product classification, customs valuation, payment of duties, taxes, or other charges such as refunds, rebates, and duty drawbacks. To obtain a customs broker license, an individual must pass the U.S. Customs Broker License Exam. Customs brokers are not government employees and should not be confused with CBP officials. There are approximately 11,000 active licensed customs brokers in the United States.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued an August 2007 version of its informed compliance publication entitled, What Every Member of the Trade Community Should Know About: the U.S.-Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has updated its Web-based training (WBT) for the Automated Commercial Environment to include a course, entitled "Enhanced ACE Accounts and Master Data (A1)," on the new functionality that will be provided in the ACE Entry Summary, Accounts, and Revenue (ESAR) A1 release.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a notice on its Web site entitled Notice of Examination: October 2007 Customs Broker Examination, which announces that the next customs broker license exam will be held on Monday, October 1, 2007.
In U.S. v. UPS Customhouse Brokerage, Inc.,the Court of International Trade agreed with UPS that the facts presented by Customs were not sufficient to grant summary judgment with respect to penalties imposed concerning certain alleged tariff misclassifications by UPS. As a result, the case must go to trial.
In April 2007 it was reported that U.S. Customs and Border Protection was developing procedures to give Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) members an additional benefit designed to reduce container demurrage.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued an ABI administrative message announcing that the deployment of ACE Entry Summary, Accounts, and Revenue A1 has been delayed until August 25, 2007.
At the Automated Commercial Environment Exchange V conference held June 4-6, 2007 in Buffalo, NY, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials discussed the deployment of ACE Entry Summary, Accounts, and Revenue Release A1, which is currently scheduled for August 11, 2007.
American Shipper reports that U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Census Bureau have "gone back to the meeting table" in an effort to finalize the mandatory Automated Export System filing rules. Once changes are agreed to, CBP and Census will have to reissue a new proposed rule for mandatory AES with all new deadlines for comments and final implementation. (American Shipper, February 2007, www.americanshipper.com)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued an informed compliance publication entitled, What Every Member of the Trade Community Should Know About: Determining the Acceptability of Transaction Value for Related Party Transactions.