CBP to Delay ACE Deadline for Foreign-Trade Zone Admissions Until December
CBP will postpone until Dec. 9 the mandatory use date for e214 foreign-trade zones admissions in ACE, Acting CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America Government Affairs Conference on Sept. 11 in Washington. The delay of the deadline, previously set for Sept. 16, comes in response to concerns from industry, McAleenan said. CBP will make a formal announcement on Sept. 11, he said.
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“Even though programming is completed and tested,” the delay is meant to “ensure FTZ industry readiness,” McAleenan said. The National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones asked CBP for the delay, in a letter to CBP officials dated Sept. 7. A “lift-and-shift” of the e214 from the legacy Automated Commercial System to ACE has not gone as smoothly as planned, with testing of the e214 capability in ACE revealing a “disturbing number of systemic problems and new issues that need to be addressed before the roll-out,” the letter said.
As of the time the letter was written, an “end-to-end test” of standard zone admissions processes and direct delivery processes had not yet been successfully completed, NAFTZ said in the letter. In light of the testing issues and disruptions to CBP and FTZ operators, particularly petroleum refiners, caused by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the trade group had asked for a delay of four to six weeks.