ACE Non-Portal Account Truck Carriers Can Now Make e-Manifest Submissions Using Third Parties with ACE Portal Accounts

(Previously, truck carriers wishing to use third parties to submit their e-Manifest information on the ACE Secure Data Portal were required to have an ACE portal account themselves.)

"Non-Portal Account" Truck Carriers Wishing to Use Third Parties No Longer Restricted to EDI Option

CBP states that with this change, truck carriers who have non-Portal ACE Accounts and who elect to use third parties to submit manifest information to CBP are no longer restricted to using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) third parties.

According to CBP and CBP sources, this change also opens up the ACE Truck Manifest Test to carriers previously ineligible to participate and provides new business opportunities for customs brokers, importers and truck carriers that do not use EDI, to act as third parties (See BP Note below).

Carriers Using Third Parties Have Limited Access to Manifest Data Unless They are ACE Portal Accounts

CBP notes that truck carriers who elect to use ACE portal account third party transmitters will not have access to their manifest data unless they establish their own ACE portal accounts. In addition, they will not receive status messages on ACE transactions; those messages will be provided to the party transmitting the manifest information.

Those Planning to Act as ACE Portal Third Parties Must Have Portal Account

According to CBP, any party, whether a truck carrier or other entity, planning to transmit e-Manifest: Truck information on behalf of other truck carriers must establish or have established an ACE portal account. Interested parties must submit an application as set forth in CBP's February 2004 general notice. (See 2004 notice for eligibility requirements; link provided below.)

Current ACE portal truck carrier accounts wishing to transmit a manifest on behalf of another carrier will be able to do so through their existing accounts.

(In February and September 2004, CBP published general notices in the Federal Register announcing a test allowing participating truck carriers to transmit e-Manifest data in ACE, including advance cargo information as required by section 343(a) of the Trade Act of 2002, as amended by the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002. Truck carriers participating in the test opened Truck Carrier (Portal) Accounts which provided them with the ability to make e-Manifest submissions and obtain release of their cargo, crew, conveyances, and equipment via the ACE Portal or EDI messaging.

Then, in March 2006, CBP issued a notice CBP advising truck carriers that they were no longer required to open ACE Truck Carrier (Portal) Accounts to participate in the ACE test. Specifically, truck carriers were advised that they could elect to use a third party to submit e-Manifest information to CBP via EDI. Due to limited functionality available via the portal at that time, truck carriers were advised that if they elected to use a third party to transmit the truck manifest information to CBP via the ACE portal (rather than EDI), the truck carrier who is submitting that information to the third party (for transmission to CBP) would be required to have an ACE Truck Carrier (Portal) Account.)

¹ CBP has also referred to this test as the ACE/National Customs Automated Program (NCAP) test or the e-Manifest: Truck test. CBP has begun requiring the mandatory use of e-Manifest: Truck for advance cargo information purposes at certain land border ports.

(See ITT's Online Archives or 02/05/04 news, 04020510, for BP summary of the February 2004 general notice. See ITT's Online Archives or 09/15/04 news, 04091515, for Part II of BP's summary on the September 2004 general notice on this NCAP test, with a link to Part I. See ITT's Online Archives or 01/20/04 news, 04012035, for the final part of BP's series of summaries on the final rule on the advance electronic presentation of cargo information for all modes, with links to previous parts.

See ITT's Online Archives or 03/30/06 news, 06033005, for BP summary of the March 2006 general notice announcing that truck carriers without ACE portal accounts could use third parties to submit manifest information via EDI. )

CBP contact: James Swanson at james.d.swanson@dhs.gov

CBP general notice (FR Pub 03/15/07) available at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/pdf/E7-4773.pdf

(BP Note: This summary reflects a post-publication correction; see 07032005.)