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

CBP plans to add the ability to file electronic protests in ACE, the agency said in a notice (here). "CBP is proposing to add the capability of electronically filing protests to ACE," it said. "A protest is a procedure whereby a private party may administratively challenge a CBP decision regarding imported merchandise and certain other CBP decisions." CBP will require data on the organization, the ACE account owner and points of contact for protest filer accounts, it said. The move to a fully electronic process will facilitate the ability for CBP to send protests to the Centers of Excellence and Expertise and to other ports, a software developer recently said of the changes (see 1604220031).

There remains insufficient rationale behind a Department of Energy proposal to require filing of “certifications of admissibility” in ACE at time of entry for products subject to energy efficiency standards, a group of trade associations told the DOE in June 10 comments (here). The notice "seems to indicate that DOE is planning to continue down the same misguided path to further regulate importers who are already compliant with DOE’s regulations for no definable purpose and with no achievable outcome," the groups said. The DOE reopened the comment period on the proposal after industry members voiced a wide range of concerns about the plan (see 1605130022).

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

CBP and Food and Drug Administration officials outlined transition procedures for the June 15 ACE mandatory use date for most FDA cargo release and entry summary submissions, during a June 9 webinar conducted by the agencies and the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America. CBP will on June 15 begin rejecting ACE entries that are flagged for FDA but are not accompanied by partner government agency (PGA) data, a CBP official said. However, the legacy ACE remains online and available as a fallback until July 23, and CBP will handle ACS filers on a “case-by-case basis” until that date, sending error messages and reaching out to non-ACE filers to get them aboard, he said. As CBP has previously said (see 1605270002), the agency will shut off ACS on July 23 and filers will “no longer have the ACS alternative,” the official said.

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

ARLINGTON, Va. -- As the Food and Drug Administration readies for CBP’s June 15 deadline for filing of FDA entries and entry summaries in ACE, other agencies have further to go before their partner government agency (PGA) filing capabilities become available, government officials said during a panel discussion at the American Association of Exporters and Importers annual conference. Despite indications from CBP that the Environmental Protection Agency would be among the agencies scheduled for ACE filing this summer, EPA now looks like it won’t be ready until closer to the end of the year, one EPA official said. Likewise, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, though nearing the start of its e-filing pilot, may not be ready for full ACE filing until 2019 or 2020, the commission’s import director said.

International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for May 31 - June 6 in case they were missed.

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

All live entries filed in ACE at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) should be dropped off at the Team 754 drop slot in the lobby of the CBP LAX cargo office in Los Angeles, CBP LA said in a public bulletin. As ACE cargo release “is considered a paperless program," brokers and filers will be required to submit, in a green folder, “CBP Form 7501 or 7501A with a check attached, to the Financial Team,” the bulletin said. “The invoice, packing list, and remaining supporting documents shall be uploaded onto the Document Image System (DIS). No check or cash collections of any type should be submitted to Selectivity or Import Specialist teams drop slots," CBP LA said.