The CBP Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations has “grave concerns” about the ongoing pilot of Food and Drug Administration filing in the Automated Commercial environment, it said in a memo posted to the CBP website Nov. 2 (here). FDA is “not piloting reality,” instead testing an artificial process where importers must go through multiple steps to pre-validate shipment data, said the memo, which also detailed PGA filing issues related to the other agencies. With the Feb. 28 mandatory date for FDA filing fast approaching, FDA “needs to pilot real data in order to adequately identify issues and test the success of their ACE deployment,” said the COAC.
CBP should “lock down” Automated Commercial Environment business rules, implementation guides, and record layouts for all partner government agencies (PGAs), allowing no additional changes prior to the February 2016 ACE mandatory use date in order to give filers time to implement and test PGA programming, said the CBP Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC) in a recommendation adopted at the group’s Oct. 29 meeting. “The agencies have had enough time to finalize their layouts,” said the recommendation, put forward by the COAC One U.S. Government at the Border (1USG) committee. “Importers and filers need to be afforded the same courtesy, in terms of having adequate time to complete and test their own programming.”
CBP will release a new version of the Automated Commercial Environment Reports user interface on Oct. 31, the agency said in a CSMS message (here). "CBP will update ACE Reports to include a new home page, a more intuitive navigational structure, and a revised training resources page," it said. The update will be the first in a series of enhancements to ACE Reports, "with a full cutover to the new ACE Reports structure scheduled for completion" by Dec. 7, it said.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Oct. 19-23 in case they were missed.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – CBP’s partner government agency (PGA) filing pilots in the Automated Commercial Environment are still hampered by a lack of participants, said Steve Hilsen, leader of International Trade Data System efforts at CBP, speaking at the Coalition of New England Companies for Trade Northeast Cargo Symposium on Oct. 27. Some PGAs are “ready to roll” with their pilot programs, but have yet to attract a single volunteer, he said.
With major changes ahead for CBP’s national permitting scheme, licensed customs brokers are increasingly concerned with the prospects for the profession, said several brokers in interviews. The expansion of remote location filing on national permits to all entry types and government agencies, set to occur by the end of 2016 alongside full implementation of the Automated Commercial Environment, could allow brokerages to employ a single licensed individual to qualify all of their customs business. Brokers have been active in voicing concerns that such an outcome could undermine compliance and make customs brokering a less attractive profession, but have yet to find a solution acceptable to CBP.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
Cindy Allen, formerly of DHL Global Forwarding and prior to that head of CBP’s ACE Business Office, opened a new consulting firm focused on assisting importers, exporters, customs brokers and software developers, she said in an email. The new company, named Trade Force Multiplier, will advise importers and exporters seeking to comply with the demands of partner government agencies and customs brokers seeking to automate and implement the Automated Commercial Environment. The firm will also offer a training and reference resource for desk-level employees at brokerages, importers, exporters and forwarders.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters: