Effective March 4, Air Manifest System certification in the Automated Commercial System will be disabled, said CBP in a CSMS message (here). The Automated Commercial Environment air manifest code will be migrated to the ACE Certification environment, it said.

The House passed a “clean” Department of Homeland Security funding bill with a 257-167 vote after House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, put the legislation up for a vote on March 3. The legislation, HR-240 (here), funds CBP and the rest of DHS through Sept. 30. The measure only garnered 75 Republican votes. No Democrats opposed it.

International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Feb. 23-27 in case they were missed.

CBP postponed the Automated Commercial Environment developer session that was scheduled for March 3-4, the agency said (here). The event was postponed because the agency was preparing for a possible shutdown due to a lapse in funding, it said.

A Department of Homeland Security funding lapse will not stop "front line cargo operations" and import and entry specialists will continue to review entries during that time, said CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske. Kerlikowske discussed the looming shutdown, a result of a fight over DHS funding in congress, with members of the trade industry and reporters in a Feb. 26 call. Despite going without a paycheck during the shutdown, CBP personnel will also be available to answer questions for importers and brokers, he said. DHS funding will stop Feb. 28 unless congress allocates more funding before then.

MIAMI -- As countries across the globe move ahead with trade facilitation and modernization initiatives, governments can’t relent in the drive to remove paperwork from all customs and regulatory filing, said several North American and European trade logistics officials at the International Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Council for International Business symposium on Feb. 23. Automation is indispensable in those initiatives, said the officials.

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

MIAMI -- There's no indication that importers and brokers will not be prepared for the rapidly approaching Automated Commercial Environment deadlines, said CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske in a sit-down interview with International Trade Today on Feb. 24 at the International Chamber of Commerce and U.S. Council for International Business symposium. Kerlikowske said he expects only a “tiny” percentage of traders and brokers will not be ready for the required use of ACE. As of May 1, CBP will require ACE for all electronic manifest filings, while all electronic cargo release and entry summary filings will be required in ACE as of Nov. 1.

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

MIAMI -- The U.S. is aiming to get two-thirds of World Trade Organization members to ratify the Trade Facilitation Agreement and put the pact's implementation into force by December, said Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for the WTO Mark Linscott at the International Chamber of Commerce and U.S. Council for International Business trade facilitation symposium on Feb. 23. The plan to reach that goal focuses on private sector influence on WTO members and diplomatic pressure through the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the G20 and other international forums, said Linscott.