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

CBP will add a number of new features to the Automated Commercial Environment in a July 12 update, the agency said in a information notice. The deployment will add unified filing of cargo release and importer security filing data, it said. Six shipment types will be allowed within ACE Cargo Release: Standard or regular filings, To Order Shipments, Military and Government, U.S. Goods Returned, International Mail Shipments, and Outer Continental Shelf Shipments. All others will need to be filed as stand-alone ISF transactions, it said. The update will also add system validations for entry summaries, it said. Users will see new system error messages for informal entry restrictions, charges restrictions, taxes and other fees, it said.

Send event information for inclusion in the International Trade Today Calendar toITTNews@warren-news.com.

CBP will temporarily allow non-automated consolidated freight stations, warehouses and terminals to release cargo based on screen printouts presented to them by filers while the agency conducts its Simplified Entry pilot, it said on July 2. CBP says the interim procedures will allow non-automated facilities that don’t get electronic releases to handle entries filed under the pilot. Simplified Entry does away with the filing of paper Form 3461, so CBP won’t be creating courtesy copies or otherwise stamping forms, it said.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission will hold a public workshop on Sept. 18 to discuss electronic filing of certificates of compliance as part of the import entry process. CPSC says it will use input it gets from the workshop to inform its implementation of electronic filing at time of entry, which may take the form of an electronic document or data elements in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). Registration is required by Aug. 8 for presenters, and Sept. 5 for all others who want to attend the workshop, which will also be webcast. Registration will be available (here). CPSC will also accept written comments by Oct. 31.

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

CBP will hold an outreach event in San Francisco on July 17 at 9:30-11:30 a.m. to discuss the rollout of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) with the trade community. Steve Hilsen, director of business transformation at CBP’s ACE business office will discuss upcoming ACE deployments, new functionality, and mandatory dates for filing through ACE. Space for the event is limited, said CBP. To register, email Elizabeth Valentini at elizabeth.a.valentini@cbp.dhs.gov.

CBP will begin the third phase of its Document Image System (DIS) pilot in the Automated Commercial Environment, expanding the program by supporting additional partner government agency (PGA) forms and revising rules for submitting images through DIS, said CBP in a notice. DIS allows for electronic submission of documents during the import process required by multiple agencies. CBP began testing the program in 2012 (see 12040548) and began the second phase during the summer of 2013 (see 13071014).

Some Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) antidumping/countervailing duty entry summary transactions for cases with a specific rate are being rejected incorrectly, said CBP in a CSMS message. The entries are rejected with the reason "Estimated duty/calculated duty mismatch,” said CBP. "Currently, there is no workaround for this issue" but "a fix to resolve this issue will be implemented in ACE" in the coming weekend, said CBP.

MINNEAPOLIS -- As the customs drawback claims process moves toward incorporation into the Automated Commercial Environment, Congress will need to act on Customs Reauthorization legislation in order to provide CBP the authority to both simplify and automate the program, said industry officials and a CBP customs official on June 18 at the American Association of Exporters and Importers (AAEI) annual conference. Both House and Senate Customs Reauthorization bills include provisions that would spur automation and revise drawback to simplify the process. Those bills, however, have not moved on Capitol Hill in months.