ITDS Reports Surge in Seizures of Unsafe Products Due to Interagency ACE Partnership
The International Trade Data System has issued a press release stating that the power of partnership is becoming more obvious, particularly with respect to the seizure of unsafe products, as the implementation of U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Automated Commercial Environment extends to other government agencies.
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(ACE is the technology for the International Trade Data System (ITDS) which will provide a "single window" for submitting trade information to federal agencies. ACE facilitates data sharing between government agencies, including the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service (APHIS), and the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS).)
ITDS points to the following ACE partnership successes:
FSIS substantially increased ineligible product removals. Between fiscal year (FY) 2005 and FY 2006, ACE allowed FSIS to increase the amount of ineligible product detected, detained and removed from commerce from 97,000 to 2.87 million pounds. The increase in seizures of ineligible products continued in FY 2007 with 2.04 million pounds of ineligible product. During the first eight months of FY 2008, ACE has facilitated the control of 3 million pounds of ineligible product from commerce via the FSIS Import Tracking System.
CPSC verifies what importers report, researches company import history. The CPSC can verify what importers tell CPSC during an inspection with the information in ACE. CPSC also uses ACE to research company-specific import history. For example, For example, CPSC recently researched a company importing all-terrain vehicles with known consumer safety hazards. CPSC created an "Import Alert" that was shared with CBP's Federal Agency Enforcement Branch and provided information to a specific port. Upon arrival of the suspect shipment, CPSC was notified to investigate and recommend course of action (e.g., denial of entry).
APHIS identifies dangerous shipments prior to arrival, etc. ACE gives APHIS information in 1-2 minutes that would have previously taken several hours sifting through paperwork. ACE has also helped APHIS identify potentially dangerous shipments prior to port arrival and facilitate timely collaboration with CBP.
AMS has instant access to data. ACE allows AMS to have instant access to data that was previously faxed or e-mailed. ACE also gives AMS strong confidence that the information they are receiving is 100% complete and accurate.
CBP/ITDS Board Identify PGAs to Participate in ACE, 45 Now Participating
CBP and the ITDS Board of Directors identify where Participating Government Agencies (PGAs), such as FSIS, CSPC, APHIS and AMS, can be integrated with ACE to enhance information sharing and define agency requirements for the ACE capabilities being developed. Currently, there are 45 PGAs actively engaged in ACE/ITDS.
Now More Than 377 ACE Secure Data Portal End Users
As a result of ongoing training efforts, there are now more than 377 ACE Secure Data Portal end users from 25 PGAs. CBP is working aggressively to ensure that all agencies that can benefit from ITDS are added to the current PGA roster.
ITDS press release (dated 09/05/08) available at http://www.itds.gov/xp/itds/news/unsafe_prod.xml