U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued the following news releases related to commercial trade and related issues:

On January 31, 2012, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued CSMS message #12-000027 announcing that it was aware of issues preventing the successful logon to the ACE Reports portal (i.e., the ACE Reports subsystem). CBP immediately issued (perhaps prematurely) and then rescinded CSMS #12-00028 (the message stated that the issue had been resolved and ACE reports could be generated). On February 1, 2012, CBP issued CSMS #12-000032 that states that the problem preventing the successful logon to the ACE Reports portal (i.e., the ACE Reports subsystem) is resolved and that ACE reports can now be generated. CSMS #12-000027 available here. CSMS #12-000032 available here.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued its January 2012 Trade Account Owner (TAO) Update. This update features information on planned ACE functionality for 2012, including e-Manifest: Rail and Sea (M1), Simplified Entry, the Document Image System (DIS), the Participating Government Agency (PGA) Message Set, and exports. This update also provides information on creating a split shipment via the ACE Portal, new ACE report issues and other updates, etc.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS Message announcing that a new Importer Security Filing (ISF) Report, the "Late ISF Importer Report (PDF)," is now available for importers and filers.¹ Users will need to subscribe to this new report.

On January 31, 2012, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued CSMS message #12-000027 announcing that it was aware of issues preventing the successful logon to the ACE Reports portal (i.e., the ACE Reports subsystem). CBP subsequently issued and rescinded CSMS #12-00028 (stating that this issue has been resolved and that ACE reports can now be generated.) On February 1, 2012, CBP issued CSMS

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued CSMS message #12-000026 announcing that the ACE M1 system (e-Manifest: Ocean and Rail) experienced a backlog of messages beginning at 11:15 EST on January 27, 2012. This backlog caused trade notifications and message processing to slow down dramatically. The underlying reason for the backlog was alleviated around 15:30 EST the same day. The estimated time to work through the backlog was up to two hours. Normal processing times was expected to be restored by 17:30 EST.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted an updated version of its spreadsheet of ACE ESAR A2.2 (Initial Entry Types) programming issues.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued CSMS #12-000023 to provide information on the recently released Microsoft Internet Explorer version 8 security patch KB2585542, which is incompatible with the current Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) application and has resulted in slow Portal performance. CBP states it is investigating the conflict and hopes to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. CBP has provided an interim solution for trade consideration and determination, which involves the removal of the security patch. If this temporary solution is selected, CBP states users should work with their local IT resources to perform the removal. If users determine to effectuate the removal, CBP has provided the following steps:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted two fact sheets on the benefits of its Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) for service providers and truck carriers, which include the following:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a notice containing the email address the trade can use for submitting questions on ACE Simplified Entry and Summary. General questions can be sent to: CBPSimplifiedProcesses@dhs.gov.