CBP officially revised its mandatory-use date for several post-release functions in ACE, the agency said in a notice (here). "The effective date is delayed until further notice" and CBP will publish a later notice establishing a new effective date, it said. The agency recently said it is aiming to require ACE for drawback, reconciliation, duty deferral, statements and liquidation in January next year (see 1609280072). "CBP has determined that industry partners need additional time to prepare for the transition to electronic post-release capabilities in ACE," CBP said.
Drawback
A duty drawback is a refund by CBP of the duties, taxes, or fees paid on imported goods, which were imposed upon importation as prescribed in 19 U.S.C. 1313(d). More broadly, a drawback also includes the refund or remission of other excise taxes pursuant to other provisions of law.
NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ontario -- The Canada Border Services Agency is “still stabilizing” its new Accounts Receivable Ledger (ARL) customs accounting and payment system, some nine months after it went live in January 2016, CBSA Comptroller Jen O’Donoughue said at the Canadian Society of Customs Brokers National Conference on Sept. 26. Many of the most serious issues are the result of payment misallocations that plagued the early stages of the transition, causing some importers to receive notices they owe debts despite having given money to their customs brokers to pay on their behalf. Those issues should no longer occur once CBSA works through a backlog of misallocated payments from February and March, which should be done in the next three months, she said.
CBP again delayed its mandatory use date for ACE drawback, reconciliation, duty deferral, statements and liquidation, the agency said on Sept. 28 (here). “In order to allow additional time for all stakeholders to prepare for this transition, and to provide the opportunity to solicit and receive public comment on the associated regulatory changes, CBP is rescheduling this transition which was previously scheduled for October 29, 2016,” it said. “CBP is targeting January 2017 for the revised deployment and mandatory date and will provide additional clarification regarding the precise transition date in the coming weeks.”
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Sept.12-16 in case they were missed.
All refund claims and protests related to merchandise prohibited by the Food and Drug Administration "require documentation that substantiates the goods are prohibited," the CBP Los Angeles field office said in a public bulletin. "If you are unable to establish by a preponderance of evidence that the merchandise in question constitutes a prohibited article, you may file a CF 7553 -- Notice of Intent (NOI) for a future drawback claim along with the documents required for the supervised exportation or destruction, when the refused merchandise is presented to CBP at the time of exportation or destruction," CBP said. CBP won't "automatically issue refunds on FDA refused merchandise" and "will no longer automatically accept cancellation requests on entries where duties and/or fees were paid" after the merchandise was exported or destroyed, it said. "However, cancellation requests will be considered if no duties and/or fees were submitted."
CBP and the trade community may still not be ready for ACE drawback and reconciliation by Oct. 29, despite CBP’s recent delay of the deadline, customs lawyer Michael Cerny said during a panel discussion at a National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference in Washington Sept. 12. Both systems have been “barely tested,” and software developers still aren’t ready with programming, said Cerny, who chairs the Trade Support Network’s drawback subcommittee. CBP’s CATAIR requirements and business rules still aren’t set with less than two months before the deadline, a situation reminiscent of the approach to CBP’s original November 2015 deadline for all of ACE, he said.
CBP faces a challenging budget environment for ACE as it works to find funding for improvements and new functionalities long desired by the trade community, said Cynthia Whittenburg, deputy executive assistant commissioner at CBP’s Office of Trade, at a National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference in Washington Sept. 12. Following completion of “core” ACE in December, the “funding profile” will “adjust downward” as CBP will be legally required to use ACE operations and maintenance funding for operations and maintenance, and will not be able to use the funds for building new capabilities, including for partner government agencies (PGAs). “So when you see in our appropriations and funding, 'ACE,' those dollars are going strictly to fixing bugs and keeping the system running,” she said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Sept. 6-9 in case they were missed.
As implementation of core ACE capabilities nears completion, CBP and the trade community “need to keep an eye on” congressional budgets to make sure the resources are in place for improvements after 2016, said Brenda Smith, executive assistant commissioner of CBP’s Office of Trade, at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America Government Affairs Conference on Sept. 12 in Washington. Though completion of core ACE by the Obama administration’s December 2016 deadline is “in the bag,” there is “vast room for improvement,” Smith said. CBP and the trade community need to make sure that ACE is not only the “best of the best” single window in 2016, but continues to be going forward, she said.
CBP outlined the changes to come once ACE becomes required for electronic drawback filings, set for Oct. 29, on the agency's website (here). Most of the changes, such as a limit of 5,000 records and the use of the Document Image System, were previously described by CBP (see 1608110026).