U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted its monthly Automated Commercial Environment Updates for November 2011. While the update lists new statistics showing that the number of ACE trade user accounts and the size of revenue collections via Periodic Monthly Statement (PMS) continue to grow, it also indicates that a number of due dates for ACE functionality have been pushed back to later dates or are no longer specified.

The Account Management Committee of the Trade Support Network (TSN) has submitted a Great Idea Form that asks U.S. Customs and Border Protection to allow importers to file Post Summary Corrections through the ACE Portal. This enhancement would restore to importers that are not self-filers the ability to file their own corrections for ACE entry summaries, a benefit which was taken away when PEAs were disallowed for ACE summaries. This enhancement could also replace the current paper process of receiving and processing PEAs for non-ACE entry summaries.

According to CBP officials, the upcoming ACE Simplified Entry Pilot, at this point, will exclude entries that have other government agency (OGA) requirements, such as Food and Drug Administration or Fish and Wildlife Service requirements, etc. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials also state that Simplified Entry will seek "best available" data that can be updated later. In addition, the submission of an ISF will still be required for the ocean mode, but the submission of ISF-like data will be voluntary for other modes.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has newly posted the recording and presentation slides for its October 24, 2011 webinar on the ITDS Product Information Committee's draft report on the results of three pilot studies conducted to validate the business case for using e-commerce data, such as global product numbers/codes and electronic product catalogs. This webinar is part of a series of live trade webinars that CBP is hosting. Each webinar is made available for subsequent on-demand viewing online. Topics of previous webinars include ACE Courtesy Notice of Liquidation, the role of the broker, simplified entry, ACE Post Summary Corrections, etc.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted documents on changes to the Customs and Trade Interface Requirements (CATAIR) regarding the PGA Message Set. Specifically, changes were made to the Chapter on Participating Government Agencies (PGA), which presents records that provide data to government agencies that will participate with modernization of the automated cargo systems. Changes were also made to Appendix T, which provides codes and qualifiers for the PGA Message Set.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message stating that as a result of the change in the Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF), several ACE CATAIR documents have been updated. The following updated documents are now available on CBP's website:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a new CSMS notice asking the trade to disregard its November 14, 2011 CSMS notice #11-000282, which contained explanatory information and links to the draft Customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements (CATAIR) Chapter and message set for CBP's test of the simplified entry capability in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). The explanatory information in this new CSMS notice is the same, and states the CATAIR chapter/message set is in draft form, and it does not reflect a final document. However, the new CSMS notice has updated links for the draft CATAIR Chapter/Message Set, which is available here, and the sample CATAIR message, which is available here.

Broker Power is providing readers with some of the top stories for November 7-10, 2011 in case they were missed last week.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS notice that contains the draft Customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements (CATAIR) Chapter and message set for CBP's test of the simplified entry capability in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). CBP states that it should be noted that this chapter/message set is in draft form, and it does not reflect a final document. The draft CATAIR Chapter/Message Set is available here. Sample CATAIR message is available here.

On November 9, 2011, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced its plans to conduct a test of Simplified Entry in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). While the initial test phase is only for the air mode, CBP has issued a news release stating that it is planning similar test phases in the ocean and rail environments for early to mid-2012. CBP also clarifies that the deadline for voluntary participants for the air mode test phase is November 17, 2011, and those volunteering must include information regarding their volume of entries and the ports expected to be utilized.