U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued its ranking of priority ACE projects, including those that are in the works and planned. According to CBP, the development of DIS, PGA Message Set, PGA Interoperability, and some Export work is fully funded and Cargo Release/Simplified Entry is partially funded. After that, unless future funding is available for the continuous development of new capacities, ACE development work will cease.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted instructions and information on how to obtain a replacement of a previously issued refund check for those who have recently received a letter from the agency indicating that a CBP issued refund was returned to the U.S. Treasury as undeliverable and was canceled. CBP's instructions provide information on how to update an address with CBP, as well as how to receive a replacement check through Automated Clearinghouse (ACH).
The Food and Drug Administration is announcing the Import Trade Auxiliary Communication System (ITACS) for use by the import trade community to improve communication with FDA. ITACS provides the import trade community with three functions: (1) the ability to check on the status of an entry, (2) the ability to submit entry documentation electronically, and (3) the ability to submit goods availability information for targeted shipments electronically.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted the materials from its March 6-8, 2012 Trade Software Developer Technical Seminar at the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) meeting. During the seminar, CBP officials discussed programming changes for existing and new functionality scheduled to be delivered as part of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). Access all of the seminar materials here.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is announcing that in approximately 6 months certain ABI applications will be transitioned to ACE as part of the ACE M1 Ocean and Rail Deployment. When this transition takes place, filers will no longer be able to transmit or receive data for the following ABI capabilities using ACS: (1) In-Bond transactions for ocean, rail, and truck using ABI Application Identifiers QP/WP, (2) Status Notifications using ABI Application Identifier NS, and (3) Broker Download information using ABI Application Identifier BD.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has announced the issuance of Harmonized System Update 2013 on changes to the 2012 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS). This update was created on March 15, 2012 and contains 11,6214 Automated Broker Interface (ABI) records and 23,379 harmonized tariff records.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has revised and expanded its 2005 “Guidance for Certificates of Reimbursement” for antidumping (AD) duties in order to provide updated information on protests, the option for paperless filing using ACE, and provide additional information regarding blanket certificates, related parties, deemed liquidations, and certificates for companion countervailing (CV) duties.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted an updated version of its spreadsheet of ACE ESAR A2.2 (Initial Entry Types) programming issues.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted changes to the Customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements (CATAIR) since January 2012, which include the following changes related to the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS or KFTA):
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has not yet completed its programming to allow entry summary claims for Korea Free Trade Agreement (KFTA or KORUS) duty benefits to be filed using the ACS Automated Broker Interface (ABI). In the meantime, CBP sources and the agency's KFTA instructions list several alternatives to use for entry, and well as a post importation claim option (and form). KFTA takes effect for qualifying goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after March 15, 2012.