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

The National Marine Fisheries Service announced it will soon begin a pilot to test filing in the Automated Commercial Environment (here). The pilot will test filing of both partner government agency (PGA) message set data elements and scanned images in the Document Imaging System (DIS) for three NMFS programs: the Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Program, which includes tuna and swordfish; the Antarctic Marine Living Resources (AMLR) program, which covers toothfish (Dissostichus species); and the NOAA Tuna Tracking and Verification Program (NOAA Form 370), which covers a variety of canned, frozen, pouched and other processed tuna but not fresh tuna. The joint NMFS-CBP pilot will begin “after July 1,” said the announcement.

CBP will be keeping a close eye on testing of the Automated Commercial Environment and will be conducting targeted outreach to test specific scenarios as its Nov. 1 deadline approaches, an agency spokeswoman told International Trade Today in response to questions on how the postponement of ACE implementation until Oct. 31 for several quota-related entry types affects the agency’s approach. The delay leaves only one day for live filing before ACE becomes mandatory and the Automated Commercial System goes offline, causing some concern among customs brokers and software developers (see 1506030054).

CBP will shut down its Air Automated Manifest System (AMS) on June 6, requiring use of the Automated Commercial Environment for all air manifests after a month-long delay prompted by concerns of a lack of testing by the trade (see 1504300015). The migration to ACE will cause both the Automated Commercial System and ACE to be taken down, with ACS becoming unavailable at 3 p.m. EDT on June 6 for two hours, and ACE going offline around 7 p.m. EDT on June 6 and coming back by 5 a.m. EDT on June 7, said CBP in a recent CSMS message (here). ACE should then take about two hours to get back to real-time processing as it clears out a backlog of data submitted during the outage, according to the transcript from a June 4 CBP webinar on the air manifest transition (here).

A recently announced delay in implementation of certain entry types in the Automated Commercial Environment has ratcheted up the pressure on filers and software providers striving to meet CBP’s Nov. 1 deadline. CBP on May 22 issued a CSMS message (here) pushing back deployment in ACE of all entry types that may include quota merchandise from June 27 to Oct. 31. That leaves only one day for live testing of those entry types -- 11 in total, including foreign-trade zone and warehouse entries and withdrawals -- before the Automated Commercial System goes offline and paper becomes the only fallback, said customs brokers and software developers in interviews.

International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for May 26 - 29 in case they were missed.

CBP plans to bring together a "war room" of agency expertise that will address issues related to the planned Nov. 1 transition to the Automated Commercial Environment, said Deborah Augustin, acting executive director for the CBP ACE Business Office, on May 27 during the West Coast Trade Symposium in Tacoma, Washington. The group will be made up of client representatives, technical experts, and field personnel that will take questions and work to limit any effects on the flow of cargo, she said. The agency is preparing to have a similar setup for the Air Manifest transition and will consider that experience as it prepares for the November timeframe, she said.

The progress of customs legislation and the transition to the Automated Commercial Environment has drawback processes poised for some major updates, some over a decade in the making, said industry members during a June 2 panel discussion. The customs bills, now in various stages, includes a number of ideas supported by the Trade Support Network, including the elimination of rulings on drawback issues and an eight digit HTS substitution standard, said Bobby Waid, CEO of Charter Brokerage, who spoke on the panel at the American Association of Exporters and Importers conference. Recent work toward simplified process (see 1506010021) also includes potential updates to the program.

While the Automated Commercial Environment transition remains the focus of CBP's trade efforts, the agency is also considering some new initiatives to follow the move to ACE, said Cynthia Whittenburg, CBP executive director for trade policy and programs on June 1. Whittenburg discussed several of the items the agency is looking at while on a panel during an American Association of Exporters and Importers conference. Whittenburg pointed to updated definitions for identifier codes and account-based simplified processes among potential future work.

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