ACE Drawback Development 'on Schedule,' CBP to Issue Contingency Plans This Fall, McAleenan Says
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- CBP is “currently on schedule” with its development of ACE drawback capabilities set for deployment in February, Acting CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said Oct. 13 at the Western Cargo Conference (WESCCON). The agency is “planning success but will have a back-up plan” for any hiccups associated with the drawback deployment, and will share any contingency plans with the trade community this fall, he said.
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CBP expects “a lot more claims” to be filed once new streamlined and simplified drawback provisions set by the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 take effect, McAleenan said. “There’s going to be a corresponding increase in duties, taxes and fees over the next few years,” he said. CBP is actively working with the Treasury Department on the latter’s review of a proposed rule implementing TFTEA’s drawback provisions so the proposal can be “approved and out timely,” he said.
Software developers have expressed concern that the regulations are not yet available, leaving an ever shorter window of time for programming TFTEA drawback in ACE (see 1710040050). “While the TFTEA Drawback CATAIR is out in draft, we don’t yet have the regulations,” said Melissa Irmen of Integration Point, in a separate interview before the conference. “So, while we can start development, it seems likely that discussions about the regulations, when they are published, will result in changes and rework for us.”
If issued as a proposed rule, a comment period of 30 to 60 days is expected before CBP considers the comments it receives and issues its final regulations, said Michael Cerny of Sandler Travis, during a separate panel discussion at WESCCON. The longer CBP goes without issuing the proposal, the more likely CBP is to issue an interim final rule instead, which would still allow for comment but would take effect and “be the [regulations] we live under” before comments are considered, said Cerny, who chairs the Trade Support Network’s drawback working group. Cerny expects an interim final rule if another month or two passes with no proposal, he said.
CBP’s decision to deploy “core” drawback in ACE at the same time that TFTEA drawback procedures come into effect represents a “big bang” that could result in issues for the agency, Cerny said. There’s a “perfect storm” coming of core drawback, with capabilities that have never been tested live in the ACE “production” environment, alongside thousands of TFTEA claims filed the same day from people trying to get the new five-year time frame under the streamlined procedures, he said. The trade community needs to see contingency plans from CBP, Cerny said.