U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a notice stating that effective January 30, 2012, the Office of International Trade/Trade Policy and Programs is no longer processing Remote Location Filing applications. This process has been transitioned to the client representatives within the ACE Business Office. The client representatives will be responsible for determining the filer’s ability to transmit via the Electronic Invoice Program (EIP), determine RLF eligibility, and convey results, once the filer has demonstrated it meets certain thresholds.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a February 16, 2012 version of its "Technical" Frequently Asked Questions document on the ACE Simplified Entry (SE) Pilot for air cargo. The new version has three new Q&As on updating and resending SEs, and four news Q&As on deleting SEs. The other sections of the FAQs have not been updated for new information.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a proposed rule to amend 19 CFR to transform the in-bond process from a paper dependent entry process to an automated paperless process in ACE. It would also require additional information to be reported on the in-bond application, establish a 30-day transit time for all modes except pipelines, and require electronic permission from CBP for in-bond cargo diversion, among other changes. Comments on the proposed rule are due by April 23, 2012.

At the February 21, 2012 COAC meeting, CBP officials said the agency plans to issue an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) to gather ideas on its planned re-write of the Customs broker regulations in 19 CFR Part 111. The ANPR will also ensure that all of the broker community has ample opportunity to provide comments and suggestions.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reposted its 183 page Matrix of "Active" Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) User Requirements of the Trade Support Network, which are those that are pending CBP review. Most of these active user requirements cover ACE Accounts, Entry, and Multi-Modal Manifest (MMM), however there are also Export and Revenue user requirements, among others. CBP has also posted a 321 page Matrix of All (active and completed) ACE User Requirements of the TSN.

The Coalition of New England Companies for Trade (CONECT) will be hosting its 2012 Northeast Trade & Transportation Conference for three days on March 14-16, 2012 in Newport, Rhode Island. Government officials that will make presentations include Cindy Allen, Executive Director of CBP's ACE Business Office; Allen Gina, Acting CBP Assistant Commissioner; and Thomas Falanga, Supervisor, C-TPAT NY Field Office, JFK Airport. The event is approved by NCBFAA for 19 CCS/CES points. Additional details and online registration for this event are available here.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection posted an Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) user guide on e-Manifest: Trucks. It provides an introduction to this capability in ACE and information on how to store account information in the ACE, how to add drivers to an account, submitting an e-Manifest, in-bond shipment information, etc.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a proposed rule to amend 19 CFR to transform the in-bond process from a paper dependent entry process to an automated paperless process in ACE. It would also require additional information to be reported on the in-bond application, establish a 30-day transit time for all modes except pipelines, and require electronic permission from CBP for in-bond cargo diversion, among other changes. Comments on the proposed rule are due by April 23, 2012.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a February 3, 2012 version of its frequently asked questions document on containers considered to be instruments of international traffic (e.g. reusable containers) that are imported into the U.S. with residual chemicals, cargo, goods, etc. The new version extensively revises and reorganizes its information on the upcoming requirement that residue in IIT be manifested, classified, and entered, with detailed specifics on (1) what carriers and importers of record will be responsible for, and (2) the procedures for manifesting and entering IIT with residual cargo, among other changes.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message announcing that it is still accepting registrations for its March 6-8, 2012 seminar at the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) meeting in Arlington, VA that will cover programming changes for existing and new functionality scheduled to be delivered as part of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). The seminar will target ocean and rail software developers and ABI software developers. Presentations will focus on: (i) Changes to CAMIR and X12 message formats required for the deployment of ACE Ocean and Rail Manifest, mandatory ABI changes required for this deployment, and the decommissioning of the ACS Ocean and Rail Manifest system; and (ii) Current and future ACE deployments including ACE Entry Summary Filing, Post Summary Corrections, PGA Message Set, Document Image System, Simplified Entry/Cargo Release, and Export Manifest. Registration is available at http://www.ncbfaa.org/.