CBP chose OHL to be one of the three customs brokers to test the Automated Commerce Environment (ACE) cargo release pilot program, the company said in an email. CBP recently expanded the ACE Cargo release test, meant to improve the process for releasing cargo into commerce, relaxing security requirements (see 13110115) for participants and opening it up to ocean and rail modes (see 14013112).

CBP posted an updated version of its guidelines for the Centers for Excellence and Expertise. The updated version provides some new information on "Filer Responsibilities" and "Revenue Collection" among other things. CBP recently added new entry types to the CEEs (see 14030714) and said it would soon shift processing of full industries to the CEEs (see 14030613).

Consumer Product Safety Commission announced on March 25 the following voluntary recalls of imported products:

The Automated Export System (AES) postdeparture (Option 4) is erroneously generating a “Fatal Error 082: USPPI Not Option 4 Eligible/Shipment Rejected” message due to a glitch in the system that resulted from the recent AES move to the Automated Commercial Environment platform, the Census Bureau said. Census is working to resolve the issue.

CBP posted some more of the presentations given during the East Coast Trade Symposium March 6-7. The newly available presentations are:

The Consumer Product Safety Commission should hold a dialogue with the trade community before it finalizes new entry documentation requirements, said a group of trade associations a letter to the commission dated March 14. CPSC proposed in May 2013 to require product safety compliance certificates to be filed with CBP at time of entry (see 13051018). That is a “significant change to current supply chain operations and will have a major adverse impact on businesses’ operations,” said the letter. The changes merit that CPSC hold a public form “as soon as possible,” said the trade groups. “It is important for the CPSC to fully understand how the current entry process works and how this change would not only impact the industry, but Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the CPSC as well,” it said.

Companies have started to request permission to unload cargo destined for Vancouver at U.S. ports as the labor dispute and truck driver strike in the Canadian city continues, said CBP in a CSMS message. Truckers at Port Metro Vancouver have been on strike since Feb. 26, though there has been some progress toward resolving the dispute, said A.N. Deringer in a March 14 alert.

CBP officials at agency headquarters are reviewing a proposal that would bring about a pre-classification program within the apparel Center for Excellence and Expertise, allowing importers that use the CEE to submit information to CBP and receive classification advice ahead of import, said CBP Director of Field Operations for San Francisco and Portland Brian Humphrey. Humphrey and others discussed the proposal March 7 during CBP’s Trade Symposium. The agency has previously mentioned the proposal (see 13102427), but has offered scant information in the past on how it might work. CBP has previously had such a program but has since stopped.

Brokers will continue to be an integral part of the trade process even as the role of the CEEs increases, said Leon Hayward, director of the pharmaceuticals CEE, while speaking on a panel at the CBP Trade Symposium March 7. The companies that are involved in developing the CEEs have told Hayward “no matter how much this kind of stuff changes, we’re still going to use our brokers to file our entries” because “we don’t want to do that ourselves,” he said. That's been true at Nike, which is participating in a CEE, said Matt Varner, the company's director of trade operations. There is still a constant line of communication between Nike and its brokers , he said.

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