CBP Urges Filing of ACE Entry Summaries to Get Simplified Entry, DIS, Etc.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection wants all parties to start filing Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) entry summaries immediately to take full advantage of new capabilities and benefits that will become available in ACE. All new functionality that is being deployed will be available only in ACE and not in the Automated Commercial System (ACS), CBP officials told a seminar hosted by the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America. CBP states that use of the PGA Message Set, Document Image System (DIS), and Simplified Entry capabilities will require filing of an ACE entry summary.
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ACS Capabilities to Be Decommissioned as New ACE Takes New Functionalities
CBP’s ACE Business Office communicated that as new capabilities in ACE are deployed, corresponding capabilities in the legacy ACS system will be decommissioned, making ACE the only system available for those capabilities. CBP stated that Cargo Release, Entry Summary Edits and the primary fixes to existing functionality from a user perspective are among the top priorities for the ACE program. Once these three components are delivered in ACE, CBP will publish a timeline for decommissioning ACS for the corresponding cargo release and entry summary (for 01, 11 and 03 entry types) functionality in ACS.
ACS Ocean and Rail Manifest Decommissioning in ACS Planned for September
With respect to e-Manifest: Rail and Sea, CBP advised attendees about its plans to publish a Federal Register Notice this month announcing a six month transition period before decommissioning the ocean and rail manifest functionality in the legacy system. This decommissioning is planned for September 2012. With this timeline in mind, CBP greatly emphasized the need for all impacted parties to immediately begin making preparations and urged them to contact their client representative for additional information.
ACE Deployment Impacts ABI Software as Well as Rail/Sea Carriers, Ports, Terminals
CBP officials also explained that this deployment impacts not only rail and sea carriers, but also terminal operators, ABI filers, port authorities and others. There are mandatory changes to functionality that impact ABI software developers and their users. These changes are found in ABI Application Identifiers QP and WP (ABI In-Bond for ocean, rail and truck), BD (Broker Download), and NS (Status Notifications). These ABI applications are included in the functionality that will be decommissioned and require programming changes that must be made in advance of the six month timeframe specified in the upcoming Federal Register Notice.
(See ITT's Online 12032028 for summary stating that CBP's DIS export manifest pilot for ocean carriers was set to begin on March 26.
See ITT's Online Archives 12032028 for summary stating that Simplified Entry Phase 1 and the PGA Message Set are part of Cargo Release (which still needs to be completed), and that Cargo Release/Simplified Entry is only partially funded.)