U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a final rule to discontinue mailing paper courtesy notices of liquidation for entry summaries that are filed in the Automated Broker Interface (ABI), effective on approximately September 30, 2011. Importers of record whose entry summaries are not filed through ABI will continue to receive paper courtesy notices of liquidation on CBP Form 4333-A.
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.
CBP has issued a CSMS message which states that CBP will be deploying new capabilities later this month that will allow rail and sea carriers to transmit electronic manifest data to the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). Attached to this CSMS message is a summary of M1’s enhancements.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued instructions on using the Remote Location Filing "Hybrid Process" when paper form Other Government Agency documents must be filed with CBP in conjunction with the RLF data in ACS or ACE. CBP also lists the paper OGA documents that are ineligible for hybrid filings.
The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General has issued a report1 stating that CBP lacks adequate controls over its single transaction bond (STB) process. OIG states billions of dollars in STBs may be at risk, jeopardizing CBP’s ability to use STBs to meet its revenue collection and enforcement goals. In response, CBP stated it would incorporate requirements for bond automation in ACE Cargo Release, develop a risk-based bonding methodology for high-risk imports, etc.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection's July 2011 ACE Trade Account Owner Update (Version 2) states that the e-Manifest: Ocean and Rail (M1) Trade Pilot is expected to start in September 2011, and that CBP will initiate its rollout to the ports in October 2011, starting with Buffalo, Baltimore, and Brownsville.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is announcing that the Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (COAC) will meet on August 18, 2011 in Long Beach, CA, and for the first time is offering a live webcast via the Internet of the meeting, as an alternative to attendance .
On July 27, 2011, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Deputy Commissioner Aguilar hosted a Trade Day forum with several groups, including Businesses for a Better Border, also known as B3.1 Among other things, CBP states that a pilot using single application requirements for Canada's Partners in Protection Program (PIP) and CBP's Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) was very successful and that CBP is looking at expanding the pilot in September.2
In June 2011, CBP, the Trade Leadership Council and the Trade Support Network discussed key "action items" for developing ACE, including the plan for turning off ACS, the upcoming Document Imaging System pilot, the visibility problem with Post Summary Corrections for prior filers, and using ACE for export licensing and reports.
In June 2011, the TSN Trade Leadership Committee voted to approve changes to the TSN’s ACE Priorities document (such as accelerating eBond and ensuring summary edits) and ideas for minimizing programming costs.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message and Fact Sheet stating that CBP expects to begin deploying M1's new capabilities to allow rail and sea carriers to transmit electronic manifest data to ACE in late summer 2011. To be able to access the new capabilities, ocean and rail carriers need to apply for their free ACE Portal Account now, and not wait until the last minute.