Broker Power is providing readers with some of the top stories for March 19 - March 23, 2012 in case they were missed last week.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection wants all parties to start filing Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) entry summaries immediately to take full advantage of new capabilities and benefits that will become available in ACE. All new functionality that is being deployed will be available only in ACE and not in the Automated Commercial System (ACS), CBP officials told a seminar hosted by the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America. CBP states that use of the PGA Message Set, Document Image System (DIS), and Simplified Entry capabilities will require filing of an ACE entry summary.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the maintenance activity scheduled in the ACE extended maintenance window starting Sunday March 25 has been completed and ACE is now available. On March 23, CBP had advised the trade that the regular ACE Maintenance Window might be extended March 25. (CSMS #12-000106)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted an updated version of its spreadsheet of ACE ESAR A2.2 (Initial Entry Types) programming issues.
The Governments of Mexico and Brazil have reported the Fourth Supplemental Protocol to Appendix II "On trade in the Automotive Sector between Brazil and Mexico," of the Economic Complementarity Agreement No. 55 (ACE 55). Under this agreement, both countries agree to a three-year temporary and incremental scheme for the levels of duty-free light vehicle exports. Such trade, after March 19, 2015, will then become free. They also agreed to increase the regional content of light vehicles from 30 to 35 percent during the first year to 40 percent after five years. Finally, with regard to heavy vehicles, consultations will be carried out to achieve reciprocal access to, and the homogenization of, technical and environmental standards. According to the Mexican Ministry of Economy, this agreement provides legal and commercial certainty to the manufacturing sectors of Mexico and Brazil.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a three-page list of the URLs for resources to assist the trade in using the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Secure Data Portal. The URLs for 18 ACE User Guides on topics ranging from an introduction to ACE to specific topics on AD/CVD cases and messages, e-Manifest: Rail and Sea (M1), running reports, etc. are provided. Several ACE User Guides are also available in Spanish. Other ACE resources include ACE web-based training and presentations on ACE capabilities. See document for full list of resources, more detailed descriptions, and links.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has announced that compatibility issues between the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) and Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) version 8 security patch KB2585542 have been resolved. Users should no longer experience ACE Portal issues with this patch installed. CBP found this issue in January 2012, which affected response times in the ACE Portal. CBP had provided an interim solution for the trade, which involved the removal of the security patch. CBP states users should reports ACE Portal issues to the CBP Technology Service Desk at 1-866-530-4172 or cbp.technology.service.desk@cbp.dhs.gov.
On March 14, 2012, the Food and Drug Administration launched its online Import Trade Auxiliary Communications System (ITACS) which allows the trade to: (i) check the FDA status of specific entries/lines; (2) submit entry documentation and link them to specific entries/lines; and (3) submit availability information for targeted shipments. FDA has posted a presentation on ITACS, which covers its system requirements, benefits, future functionality, and a "walkthrough" of current functionality. FDA sources stated that anyone with the shipment's entry number could submit entry documents using ITACS, and noted that there were no plans to integrate ITACS with ACE.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has announced that it has resolved communication problems at the CBP Data Center that affected ABI and EDI data for all FAST truck manifests and other ACE truck manifests (announced in CSMS #12-000097). Additionally, the CBP Network experienced intermittent connectivity issues affecting Virtual Private Network (VPN) connections to the CBP Mainframe environment (announced in CSMS #12-000098). CBP states this issue has been resolved and trade partners have reestablished connectivity. (CSMS #12-000099, dated 03/20/12)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection states that the Automated Commercial System (ACS) and Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) are now updated to accept entry summaries claiming U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement duty benefits. While the KFTA has been in effect since March 15, entry summary claims could not be filed in ACS or ACE until these systems were updated for the KFTA. CBP has previously stated that KFTA claims are made using the Special Program Indicator (SPI) "KR."