A new funding strategy for CBP will allow for continued development of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), the agency said in the May version of its monthly update on ACE. ACE entered into an operations and maintenance phase in FY 2012 as it lacked the funds for further ACE development. CBP now says it and the Department of Homeland Security have developed a funding strategy "that gets us a good part of the way toward our goal of completing core trade functionality in ACE within approximately three years," it said. This new strategy "covers new development through FY 2014, and additional O&M cost reductions and internal funding sources are anticipated to cover FY 2015-2016 needs," said CBP. An agency spokeswoman didn't return a request for comment.

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

Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) software vendors provided some insight on the use of ACE products and best methods for communicating with CBP in a recent survey conducted and released by the Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations Trade Modernization Subcommittee. Among challenges cited by vendors in making the change to ACE, 48 percent of respondents listed customer interest while 43 percent named budget as an issue.

International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for May 20-24 in case they were missed.

The ACE Group's U.S. retail operation began offering an updated Maritime Open Cargo Policy that includes multiple coverage components into a single form, the company said. The single form includes an "easy-to-understand Conveyances clause, which includes the Vessel Classification wording directly in the form" and "combined Warehouse-to-Warehouse and Marine-Extension clauses," it said.

CBP said it resolved a problem with about 2,500 carrier and importer accounts that account identifiers are rejected when transmitted in an EDI or portal transaction, said CBP in a CSMS message. Affected users also couldn't access their ACE Secure Data Portal account, said CBP.

CBP posted a number of presentations and documents that the agency showed at a recent Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) conference. The conference, held May 21 in Baltimore, included several technical overviews of ACE progress and future plans. The agency is planning to require ACE filing for manifest and cargo release by the end of 2015 and will require filing everything through ACE by the end of 2016, it said in a presentation on the ACE Plan Forward (here).

The Food and Drug Administration needs to do more to use the trusted trader model to manage food safety risks, said the American Association of Exporters and Importers. “Moving away from certifying individual transactions to certifying supply chains allows FDA and industry to focus supply chain security resources more effectively, thereby targeting high-risk operators and supply chains,” said AAEI in comments on FDA’s Jan. 16 preventative controls proposal (see 13010429). “Trusted traders are industry leaders in their respective trade as well as leaders in supply chain security and compliance,” AAEI said. “They represent low risk and should not be subjected to the same level or type of oversight as others not so designated.”

The Department of Homeland Security funding bill, approved by the House Appropriations Committee May 22, includes about $10.6 billion for CBP, an increase of $35 million above President Obama’s 2014 budget request that fully funds the administration's request for 1,600 new officers. The House bill allocates $38.9 billion in discretionary spending for DHS and has already garnered support from the National Treasury Employees Union (see 13052322).

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