CBP will use the widespread ACE outage that occurred on the evening of Nov. 14 to inform national downtime procedures and best practices currently under development, agency officials said on a Nov. 15 call with ACE filers and developers. CBP headquarters is communicating with the ports to determine what worked well during the downtime and identify any issues and deficiencies, CBP Deputy Executive Assistant Commissioner Cynthia Whittenburg said. The outreach is part of an effort to “ensure that our downtime procedures are efficient as possible” and incorporate any best practices identified, she said.

CBP issued the following release on commercial trade and related matters:​

CBP New York/Newark released statistics in a pipeline notice showing the "cycle time measurement" of Centralized Examination Stations from July through September. The cycle times refer to the time from ocean container arrival, as transmitted via the ACE, through final examination completion release date.

CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:​

CBP issued the following release on commercial trade and related matters:​

CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:​

CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:​

The draft drawback CBP and Trade Automated Interface Requirements (CATAIR) “is considered a DRAFT and is subject to revision before a final version is provided,” a CBP spokesman said. “CBP has not issued a proposed rulemaking as of this date and cannot comment on the points raised by NCBFAA,” he said, referring to an update the trade group sent out Nov. 6 on ongoing discussions on ACE drawback (see 1711060043). “The CATAIR will be amended to reflect the policy decisions reflected in the published final rule after considering public comments. NCBFAA is correct that any decision to accept submission of claims as of February 24, 2018, will be separately announced to the public at a later date.” The NCBFAA had said that, beginning Feb. 24, CBP was considering not using accelerated payment for processing claims under the new procedures of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 until the date that the TFTEA drawback regulations become final.

The Dec. 9 deadline for generating, transmitting and updating daily and monthly statements in ACE will not apply to statements for reconciliation (type 09) entries, CBP said in a notice. “Until reconciliation entries are filed in ACE, statements for reconciliation entries will continue to be generated, transmitted and updated” in the Automated Commercial System (ACS), CBP said. “Once reconciliation entries are filed in ACE, ACE will be the sole CBP-authorized EDI system for generating, transmitting and updating all statements, and ACS will no longer be a CBP-authorized EDI system for such purpose.” The ACE mandatory use date for reconciliation entries is Feb. 24, 2018, so reconciliation statements will also be mandatory on that date, according to the CBP website. The Dec. 9 ACE deadline also includes foreign-trade zone admissions and manufacturer ID capabilities (see 1707270035).

CBP will likely adopt a hybrid “dual calculation system” for drawback in ACE, with substitution drawback calculated using line item per unit average and invoice level calculations for direct identification drawback, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in an emailed update on Nov. 6. The decision will have “significant implications,” because line items previously claimed using substitution drawback would be ineligible for direct identification drawback, and vice versa, the trade group said. CBP is also considering making all merchandise imported in any entry claimed in a drawback claim under the existing law unavailable for substitution drawback claims under the new procedures of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, it said.