CBP and other agencies took major strides in FY 2013 toward improving trade data processing, said the International Trade Data System (ITDS) Board of Directors in a report to Congress. The statutorily required yearly report outlines progress on deploying a "single window" to automate Participating Government Agencies' (PGA) collection and processing of required import and export information. An increase in finished memorandums of understanding (MOU) between CBP and other agencies was among the notable updates since the previous report.

The Participating Government Agency (PGA) Message Set Pilot program is now in the "pre-testing" phase and production is not expected to begin until March, beginning with the Newark and Long Beach ports, said Roy Chaudet, who is the Environment Protection Agency's (EPA) lead on the joint pilot with CBP. The pilot was slated to start earlier this month, according to the Federal Register notice (see 13121219).

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The CBP single transaction bond (STB) accounting process suffered from deficiencies from 2000 to 2007 that resulted in failure to collect “substantial” antidumping and countervailing duties on Chinese garlic, crawfish tail meat, canned mushrooms and honey imports, said Acting CBP Commissioner Thomas Winkowski in a Jan. 2 letter to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. The letter is a response to Wyden concerns expressed in letters to CBP over recent months over failure to collect the relevant duties. Some sureties are continuing to contest CBP demands for payment or have declined payment after reaching insolvency, said Winkowski.

CBP is telling the trade community it will put manifest holds on any cargo at the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach that does not have an Importer Security Filing (ISF) 48 hours before arrival, according to alerts sent out by A.N. Deringer (here) and OHL (here), among others. The new "enforcement posture" was effective Jan. 20, CBP told the Los Angeles Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association (here). The ISF program requires advance cargo information submission to CBP within 24 hours before the cargo is loaded onto an ocean vessel going to the U.S. CBP begin increasing ISF enforcement efforts in July (see 13062613) and discussed the increased use of manifest holds by CBP's Los Angeles/Long Beach field office in October (see 13100810).

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International Trade Today will periodically feature a Q&A with a customs industry professional. Our interviewee for this edition is Cindy Allen, Vice President of Brokerage U.S. for DHL Global Forwarding. Before joining DHL, Allen handled the difficult task of overseeing work on the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) as CBP's Executive Director of the ACE business office. Allen has also served as the Educational Institute Director with National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America and president of the Detroit Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association. She's been a licensed customs broker since 1990.

CBP continues to fail to collect vast sums of potential revenue in import duties on certain Chinese agriculture and seafood products that entered the U.S. since 2002, along with associated bonds posted on the imports, said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., at the Jan. 15 Finance Committee hearing on the nomination of Gil Kerlikowske for CBP Commissioner (see 14011521).

Entries submitted to CBP missing invoices require a new entry and cannot be updated in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) with a Post Summary Correction (PSC), CBP said in a CSMS message. The ACE Business Rules and Process Document "is currently being revised to include this additional guidance," CBP said.

CBP must ensure all efforts are exhausted to complete the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) in a timely manner and modernize the U.S. export process in order to fuel growth in the U.S. trade community, Gil Kerlikowske told the Senate Finance Committee at a Jan. 15 hearing to consider his nomination for CBP commissioner. President Barack Obama nominated Kerlikowske for the post in August (see 13080219). “CBP needs to continue to prioritize completion of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), that is the electronic automated system for the efficient transmission of data to all U.S. government agencies and that will ensure efficient and timely release of cargo,” said Kerlikowske. “I will devote a significant amount of time to ensure that very expensive computer system is up and running and performs the way it should for commerce.”