Update on Questions & Answers from CBP's October/November ACE Exchange II Conference (Part VIII - Final)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted to its Web site a document listing the questions and answers from the importer and broker session of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Exchange II Conference that was held from October 30-November 2, 2006 in Tucson, Arizona.
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This is Part VIII, the final part of a multi-part series of summaries on this Q&A document, and highlights questions and answers presented during the existing ACE portal users breakout session on Entry Summary, Accounts, and Revenue (ESAR) A2 Finance, as well as questions asked about Importer Trade Activity (iTRAC1).
Q&A from the ACE Portal Users Breakout Session on ESAR A2
How will an ACE participant know what post summary correction (PSC) has been accepted, and what will be reflected in the periodic monthly statement (PMS)? Will participants get some type of report back from CBP?
CBP states that, although ESAR 2 will no longer generate a preliminary statement, CBP will provide ACE participants the information that would be built into their preliminary statement. CBP adds that the participant would need to generate that information in a report via the ACE portal.
Can an ACE participant set up its own clock to pull reports?
Yes, participants will be able to set that up.
What should an ACE participant do if it makes a mistake and owes money?
CBP states that ACE participants can query that summary (via the ACE portal or the Automated Broker Interface (ABI)) to ascertain entry status and collected monies. If the entry summary is unliquidated, the participant should submit a PSC. CBP adds that the participant could submit the additional duties, taxes and fees with the PSC or wait for liquidation and the subsequent supplemental duty billing. All financial transactions tied to an entry summary on a PMS would be accessible to the account holder or its agent, either through the ACE portal or an ABI query.
Will the entry summary query be changed to provide more information?
Yes.
If an importer files a PSC, will the broker get the specificity required? That is, line item detail?
Yes. CBP states that the broker will be able to get that detail via ABI.
Q&A on iTRAC
Can ACE Account holders pay their monthly duties directly to CBP, and will the account holder be able to view its iTRAC data in ACE?
CBP states that, currently, iTRAC data and ACE data do not match. In the future, CBP will be fixing that so that ACE participants can view that data in ACE for free. As far as paying for PMS, a broker can create either a broker or importer statement so that an ACE participant can pay PMS directly.
In order to perform a due diligence audit in the event of a merger, will CBP be thinking of a way to get the ACE application process down to a few days so that the company can get the iTRAC data quickly?
Yes. CBP agrees that it is unacceptable that it is taking so long to get these applications processed. CBP explains that the plan is that everyone working on ACE will be trained to set up an ACE account to speed up this process. With regard to iTRAC data, CBP states that participants should remember that CBP is working on merging the iTRAC data with ACE so that the data matches. CBP states that this will probably take about two 2 years.
1 According to a separate CBP document, iTRAC is company-specific import data (about 20 data elements) that CBP places in an MS-Access 97 data base and provides on CD-Rom to importers of record, to filers, and to their legal representatives, who have submitted FOIA requests. Processing time for these requests is usually 6-8 weeks and the approximate payment range is $250 - $300. See CBP document on iTRAC (dated 11/30/05) at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/admin/fl/foia/making_a_request/itrac/itrac.xml .
(See ITT's Online Archives or 12/08/06 news, 06120805, for BP summary announcing the availability of the Q&A document.
See ITT's Online Archives or 12/19/06, 12/21/06, 12/22/06, 12/27/06, 01/09/07, 01/10/07, and 01/12/07 news, 06121910, 06122115, 06122215, 06122715, 07010920, 07011015, and 07011210, respectively, for Parts I-VII of BP's summary of this Q&A document.)
CBP Q&A available at http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/toolbox/about/modernization/ace/reports_briefings_events/ace_ex_conf/ace_exchange/ace2_qa.ctt/ace2_qa.doc