CBP also highlighted a new user guide the AESDirect transition to ACE (here). CBP and the Census Bureau began allowing for registration of export accounts over the summer (see 1506180016). Once ACE AESDirect is fully operational, the Census Bureau plans to discontinue the legacy AESDirect filing application, CBP said previously.

International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 23-27 in case they were missed.

There's an issue with providing high volume air in-bond users the range of in-bond numbers required due to the inclusion of air in-bonds within the Automated Commercial Environment, said CBP. "To resolve this the air trade entities and CBP propose changing the way a valid 9 digit number’s check digit is calculated to add a plus 1, 2 or 3 on to the MOD 7 check digit. If not identified as one of these Air high volume in-bond please continue to use the current nine digit in-bonds with a MOD 7 check digit," CBP said in a CSMS message (here). "Due to this change a note in the Instructional Guidelines (IGs) for the Air CAMIR, the In-bond CATAIR, the ACS Cargo Release and the ACS Entry Summary to include this format have been made and posted to the website. If your programing validates the in-bond number you may need to make change to include this as a valid in-bond number." No ACE documentation for ACE Entry Release or ACE Entry Summary was required because they do "not note how a valid in-bond number is formulated," it said.

International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 16-20 in case they were missed.

CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:

CBP added recent updates on the Automated Commercial Environment to its list of issues for the trade (here) on Nov. 18. CBP also provided links to a number of other ACE-related items in a CSMS message (here). Among those are the ACEopedia for November (here) and the adoption report for ACE in October (here). According to the adoption report, the ACE cargo release "submission rate grew from 8.3% in September to 10.2% in October." The low levels of cargo release submissions is a source of some concern at CBP ahead of the ACE transition dates (see 1510190017 and 1511050059).

The Treasury Department published its fall 2015 regulatory agenda for CBP (here), which lists no new trade-related rulemakings. The agenda lists Treasury's CBP rulemakings that are pending at the proposed, interim final, final, and completed stages, as well as rulemakings that are long-term actions. The agenda lists the regulation title; past regulation(s), if any; the timeframe for the next regulatory action(s), if any; a brief description of the regulation; and a contact party name and telephone number. The Department of Homeland Security also issued its spring 2015 regulatory agenda for CBP (see 1511200014).

CBP posted a list of Automated Commercial Environment technical issues (here). The "list is to inform ACE filers and other interested parties of the existing technical issues and when they are scheduled to be fixed (where possible)," said CBP in a CSMS message (here).

CBP is committed to "conducting the transition to [the Automated Commercial Environment] from our legacy systems in a manner that is sensible and responsible," the CBP Office of International Trade said in response to concerns from the National Association of Foreign Trade Zones. The NAFTZ recently voiced some worries for the timing of FTZ reporting requirements in ACE (see 1511190017). "We have worked closely with the NAFTZ and other key trade community stakeholders over the last several years on our plans for implementing ACE," said a spokeswoman. "CBP is continually evaluating the readiness around this transition and intends to do this in a way that does not disrupt the flow of commerce. We appreciate the concerns raised by the NAFTZ and will continue to work closely with them and all of our stakeholders to ensure we can successfully meet our shared goal of operating in a single window environment."

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published its Fall 2015 regulatory agenda for CBP (here). The agenda includes a new rulemaking on the modernization of customs broker regulations (here). A source of discussion for several years now, the inclusion of the rulemaking for broker regulations marks a step toward formal action. CBP Assistant Commissioner Brenda Smith recently said a proposed rule on Part 111 may face some delay due the Automated Commercial Environment, which is seen as a priority (see 1511040068). The agenda mentions June of 2016 as a target date for the proposed rulemaking.