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CBP Selects Nine for ACE Simplified Entry Test (1st Phase for Air Mode)

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a notice stating that nine out of 40 applications were accepted in response to its November 9 notice seeking volunteers to participate in a test concerning Automated Commercial Environment Simplified Entry (SE) capability. The initial phase of the test will be open to entries filed in the air transportation mode only. According to CBP, the nine applicants accepted met all of the selection criteria in the November 9 notice.

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CBP Notifying Those Accepted for the SE Test, to Determine Next Steps

CBP is in the process of notifying qualifying applicants of their selection. Once all applicants have been notified, CBP will conduct a meeting of all the participants and will determine next steps for pilot implementation. CBP will issue another CSMS message to announce the commencement of the pilot test.

Any future expansion of the test, the timing of submission of the data, or messaging between filers and CBP, will be announced via another Federal Register notice.

(On November 9, 2011, CBP announced its plan to conduct a pilot test of Simplified Entry (SE) for the air mode of transportation. The notice stated that SE would involve the submission of 12 data elements, with an additional three data elements as optional. The notice had also stated that the initial phase would begin around December 31, 2011 and run about two years. See ITT's Online Archives 11110815 for summary of Nov 9 notice.

See ITT's Online Archives 11111016 for summary stating that SE was planned to expand to ocean and rail in 2012, and for a list of CBP Form 3461 data elements compared to the list of SE data elements.

See ITT's Online Archives 11111429 for summary of CBP notice of the draft CATAIR Chapter/Message Set for the SE pilot, and 11111517 for an update to the CATAIR draft.

See ITT's Online Archives 11110103 for summary of a useful CBP update on SE, etc.)

(CSMS #11-000299 dated 12/02/11)