CBP plans to mandate filing in ACE of electronic Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service “core” data “early this fall,” it said in an update on the status of partner government agency (PGA) pilots (here). The pilot for APHIS core, which includes all filings except those required by the Lacey Act, such as PGA data required for imports of plants, live animals and animal products under APHIS’ Animal Care, Biotechnology Regulatory Services, Veterinary Services and Plant Protection and Quarantine programs, is set to end Aug. 15, at which point "entry filers will be required to file electronic entries in ACE with APHIS data and some or all APHIS forms using the method designated on the CBP Web site for the submission of the APHIS data and forms" (see 1607150020). Also on the horizon is the ACE mandatory use date for National Marine Fisheries Service data, coming in “late August or September,” CBP said.

ACE AESDirect will undergo an outage from 10 p.m. Eastern Aug. 13 to 4 a.m. Aug. 14, the Census Bureau said in an email. Filers may submit shipments under the AES Downtime Policy, which must be filed along with any new AES transactions in ACE AESDirect after the system comes back online. Census advised AES Downtime export users to contact the port of export before filing, and in lieu of an AES Proof of Filing citation, to use the AES Downtime citation, consisting of the phrase “AESDOWN,” individual company Filer ID and date.

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

CBP will launch a pilot to test electronic filing of protests in ACE, as part of a deployment of ACE protest capabilities set to begin Aug. 27. During the test, pilot participants will submit their electronic protests, checking a box to certify the protest filer has been given power of attorney, and will also be able to submit “additional arguments and supporting information electronically, with their electronic protest in ACE," CBP said in a notice (here). To be considered timely, protests must be filed by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on the filing deadline day, it said. Amendments to protests and requests for further review may be filed electronically, though requests for accelerated disposition will still require a paper submission, CBP said. Any party who wishes to participate in the ACE protest pilot, which will begin Aug. 29, may do so as long as it has an ACE Portal Protest Filer Account. CBP has said it plans to deploy protest capabilities in ACE and decommission the Automated Commercial System for protests on Aug. 27 (see 1608080015). The agency added protest accounts to the ACE Portal in a notice issued in early August (see 1608050027).

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

International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Aug. 1-5 in case they were missed.

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

CBP created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 1609 on July 21, and HSU 1610 on Aug. 4, the agency said in a CSMS message (here). Modifications include changes to support new ACE license, permit and certificate (LPC) functionality and adjustments made as result of a recent Food and Drug Administration Deeming Rule for Tobacco, effective Aug. 8, 2016. More information can be found on the FDA’s website (here). Further modifications include the addition of EPA PGA indicators to be used with PGA Message Set submissions, CBP said. The modified records are currently available to all ABI participants and can be retrieved electronically via the procedures indicated in the CATAIR, CBP said. Further information: Jennifer Keeling, Jennifer.Keeling@dhs.gov

CBP will allow a one-day grace period for electronic protests required to be filed in ACE after the agency’s Aug. 27 cutover, it said in an update on transition procedures surrounding the deadline (here). ACE will be the only system for protests filed via the Automated Broker Interface (ABI) after deployment of ACE protest capabilities on Aug. 27. The legacy Automated Commercial System (ACS) will be taken offline for protests, and “all electronic protests must be filed via the ACE Secure Data Portal (ACE Portal),” CBP said. However, “because of the unique circumstance of the unavailability of ACS” for protests on Aug. 28, a Sunday, CBP will accept electronic protests that were due on Aug. 28 “to be filed in ACE on the next business day” of Aug. 29, it said.

CBP will add "Protest Filer Account" testing to its ACE Portal pilot, the agency said in a notice (here). "The owner of an ACE Protest Filer Account will have the ability to create and maintain through the ACE Portal information regarding the name, address, and contact information for the corporate and individual account owner for the Protest Filer Account," CBP said. "Protest filers will use the existing account structure established for other accounts within the ACE Portal." CBP will later test electronic protest submissions through the ACE Protest Module from Protest Filer Accounts, CBP said. "Parties authorized to file a protest include importers or consignees for an entry, or their sureties; persons paying any charge or exaction; persons seeking entry or delivery; persons filing a claim for drawback; exporters or producers of the merchandise subject to a determination of origin under section 202 of the NAFTA Implementation Act, if the exporter or producer completed and signed a NAFTA Certificate of Origin covering the merchandise; or the authorized agent of any of these persons," CBP said. "When a protest is filed by a person acting as an agent for the principal that agent must have a power of attorney that grants authority to the agent to make, sign and file a protest on behalf of the protesting party." CBP recently announced the end to electronic protests through the Automated Commercial System (see 1607270015). Electronic filing will require use of ACE starting Aug. 27, CBP said last month (see 1607070032).