U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a fact sheet inviting importers to take part in the many advantages of establishing an ACE portal account. Benefits of an importer ACE portal account include access to numerous reports, improved communications with CBP and a consolidated management approach facilitated by the tracking of import activity in a single, comprehensive, account based view.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a fact sheet inviting sureties to create and maintain a free Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Secure Data Portal account and utilize the numerous ACE reports that are available. CBP states that a surety with a portal account can view and update their account data, including company information (e.g., physical address, mailing address, service of process address and points of contact). The Trade Account Owner (TAO) for the surety account type will also be able to create and maintain a current listing of their corporate surety powers of attorney (CSPOA).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a fact sheet inviting customs brokers to create and maintain a free Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Secure Data Portal account and utilize the numerous ACE reports that are available. CBP states that an ACE portal account provides brokers with the ability to obtain monthly statements, make payments on behalf of their ACE and non-ACE clients, communicate with CBP, and track import activity in a single, comprehensive, account-based view.
The Court of International Trade has ruled in U.S. v. Inner Beauty Int'l (USA) Ltd., that Inner Beauty must pay a civil penalty of $39,549 for filing documents falsely stating that the country of origin of certain entries of women's undergarments was Hong Kong, instead of China. The CIT found Inner Beauty made an inadvertent error and was culpable for negligence because at the time of the entries, such merchandise was subject to an import quota.
Officials at U.S. Customs and Border Protection now state that the planned ACE enhancement to provide the original ACE entry summary filer with visibility to the Post Summary Correction done by another party is "on hold," as resources are being directed to e-Manifest: Rail and Ocean (M1) programming needs.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Office of Information and Technology has posted an updated list of companies/persons offering data processing services to the trade community for the Automated Broker Interface (ABI) as of December 12, 2011.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted an overview and a list of frequently asked questions and answers on its Industry Integration Centers, which were formerly referred to as Centers for Excellence and Expertise (CEE). Among other things, CBP provides information on who can participate in these Centers, how these Centers will affect the processing of shipments, and what benefits they provide.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued an update on their Generalized System of Preferences refund process, stating that the agency has begun the refund process for duties paid during the period from January 1, 2011 through November 4, 2011. According to sources, this refund process had been delayed for about a month due to problems with the data.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a December 9, 2011 press release on the ACE Simplified Entry test and the nine brokers selected to participate, along with some of the brokers' clients that were selected too. An associated fact sheet dated August 2011 (here) is provided as a link, along with a July 2011 trade outreach seminar on SE (here) is available.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a press release that recaps some of the highlights from the December 7, 2011 meeting of the Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of Customs and Border Protection, otherwise known as COAC. Among other things the release lists the nine brokers, large and small, selected for the Simplified Entry test, along with their associated importer stakeholders such as LL Bean and Lear Corporation. The release also notes that after Commissioner Bersin left the meeting early to travel to another meeting in El Paso, Deputy Commissioner Aguilar stepped in, ending the meeting on his own note of inspiration. "Based on the energy, the momentum, the interaction, and the dynamic nature of the relationship that has developed, we have had a really good year, but I think it will be an even better year next year."