On October 4, 2007, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee held a hearing entitled "Security of Our Nation's Seaports."
Automated Commercial Environment (ACE)
The Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) is the CBP's electronic system through which the international trade community reports imports and exports to and from the U.S. and the government determines admissibility.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection previously posted to its Web site a notice announcing the phased enforcement of mandatory Automated Commercial Environment electronic manifest: Truck for advance cargo information purposes at all land border ports in New Hampshire and Vermont as well as the remaining land border ports in North Dakota - St. John, Fortuna, Ambrose, Carbury, Noonan, Dunseith, Sherwood, Antler, Northgate, Westhope, and Portal1, beginning July 12, 2007.
The following have recently been posted to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol's Web site:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted to its Web site an updated version of its lengthy document on the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) entitled "ACE Frequently Asked Questions."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued an ABI administrative message announcing that approximately 900 continuous bond records did not transfer to the Automated Commercial Environment as part of the September 9th implementation of Entry Summary, Accounts, and Revenue (ESAR) A1.
The Trade Support Network Transition Committee has issued a "white paper" which responds to a proposal by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to have a minimal number of edits and validations in the Automated Commercial Environment system.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Web site, registration for its 8th annual Trade Symposium, which is to be held November 14-15th, is now full and a waiting list is available. (See ITT's Online Archives or 09/24/07 news, 07092405, for BP summary announcing the symposium.) (Trade Symposium information, dated 10/03/07, available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/import/communications_to_trade/trade_symp_info.xml)
The following are documents which CBP updates frequently (weekly, monthly, etc.):
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted to its Web site an updated version of its document entitled "ACE Workplan Schedule" which provides a list of the changes and/or fixes to the Automated Commercial Environment that have been scheduled for deployment from October 13, 2007 through November 17, 2007. CBP has previously stated that this list contains only those changes and/or fixes that impact the trade community.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued an ABI administrative message stating that on September 25, 2007, an update was performed on the 5106 (Importer ID Input Record) address validation tool used within the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE).