CBP Using New ACE Funding to Add PGA Data to FTZ Admissions, Improve Collection of Importer Info
CBP plans to focus its newfound ACE development funding on several projects required to implement upcoming regulations, as well as new capabilities desired by the trade community, according to its May 22 announcement of priority areas for the $30 million it received in appropriations legislation. That includes enhanced collection of importer information, the addition of partner government agency (PGA) data to electronic foreign-trade zone admissions, and a new ability for importers and exporters to electronically request confidentiality for their manifest data.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
Among other things, CBP will also use the new funding to automate and update data elements on the identity of importers captured in CBP Form 5106. The automation will allow the collection of more detailed importer information, and provide for more streamlined processing by giving filers the ability to create, edit and update importer information via ACE. CBP says the new capability will allow it to support implementation of the importer of record database required by Section 114 of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act. CBP also says the capability will “provide for more informative risk assessments prior to importation,” presumably referring to an importer risk assessment program also required by TFTEA.
CBP’s plans for electronic confidentiality requests will replace the current slow, manual process. “This enhancement will allow trade to submit and manage the confidentiality requests electronically via their ACE accounts, and for CBP to process requests online instead of through paper mailings,” CBP said. It will “significantly reduce the submission and processing time for manifest confidentiality requests, providing time savings to importers, consignees, and exporters,” the agency said.
A future enhancement to electronic foreign-trade zone admissions, only just deployed in ACE in December 2017, will “enable full modernization of the e214 process in ACE” by incorporating PGA requirements into e214 and adding “messaging to PGAs with regulatory authority over an FTZ, allowing for greater PGA visibility.” The change will enable the trade community “to submit PGA data simultaneously via the PGA Message Set transaction set or the Document Image System (DIS) when reporting the admission of goods into an FTZ.”
A new unique identifier for Centers of Excellence and Expertise will be added to “all post-release work flow in ACE,” allowing for “streamlined routing to the appropriate CEE for processing,” CBP said. The new functionality will allow CBP “to move toward account-based processing,” CBP said. “It will also make it easier for trade to determine where transactions are being processed and will provide the ability to designate their CBP-assigned Center Identification (ID) code in their Entry Summary, Reconciliation, and Protest transaction submissions for account based processing,” CBP said.
The upcoming enhancement to electronic foreign-trade zone admissions, only just deployed in December 2017, will “enable full modernization of the e214 process in ACE” by incorporating PGA requirements into e214 and adding “messaging to PGAs with regulatory authority over an FTZ, allowing for greater PGA visibility.” The change will enable the trade community “to submit PGA data simultaneously via the PGA Message Set transaction set or the Document Image System (DIS) when reporting the admission of goods into an FTZ.”
Other enhancements will “address mandatory updates related to the renewal of the GSP program,” CBP said. “This enhancement will provide ports and CBP entities greater visibility and streamlined access to risk management data, improving safety and security. GSP recipients will benefit from quicker payment of retroactive refunds after the GSP program expires and later becomes reinstated,” CBP said. CBP will also implement in ACE the capability to collect shipper phone numbers as an optional data element on the manifest.
CBP’s announcement of an upcoming Automated Broker Interface capability for Section 321 entries appears to resolve long-standing questions around filing of low-value entries. CBP will move forward with its two-track filing system for Section 321 entries in ACE, creating a new option to clear shipments via entry type 86 in ABI while still allowing clearance off manifest in the Automated Manifest System. The ABI option will be optional for filers but required for entries with partner government agency (PGA) data, CBP said. CBP says the trade community will benefit from being able to transmit Section 321 entries via ABI and receiving electronic messages for low-value shipments. “Section 321 transaction data will become available for CBP and trade review via ACE Reports,” CBP said.
CBP will also use some of the additional funding to implement the transition to a national permit for customs brokers in ACE, reflecting the elimination of the system of district permits and waivers provided for in a forthcoming proposed rewrite of CBP’s Part 111 broker regulations. Those pending regulations will “provide cost savings to the brokerage community, while codifying current broker processes in the electronic and Center universe,” CBP said in its announcement.