U.S. Customs and Border Protection is taking steps to conduct a test of Simplified Entry (SE) in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). This test will initially be for the air mode and will require 12 data elements, with three data elements being optional, and will be filed in lieu of the CBP Form 3461 electronic information. The current CBP Form 3461 consists of 27 data elements, while the Importer Security Filing (ocean) normally requires ten data elements. When the three lists of data elements are compared to one another, it appears that the SE data omits a number of CBP Form 3461 data elements (such as the description of merchandise), while borrowing heavily from the ISF data list.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a notice stating that nine out of 40 applications were accepted in response to its November 9 notice seeking volunteers to participate in a test concerning Automated Commercial Environment Simplified Entry (SE) capability. The initial phase of the test will be open to entries filed in the air transportation mode only. According to CBP, the nine applicants accepted met all of the selection criteria in the November 9 notice.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message announcing that on November 18, 2011, the ACE CATAIR Importer/Consignee Create/Update Chapter was updated to clarify the submission of foreign postal codes in the Importer/Consignee Create/Update (TI) transaction. The updated CATAIR Chapter is available here. The 2011 CATAIR Change Record is available here.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials, the delayed "limited deployment" testing of M1 (ocean and rail e-manifest) user screens by CBP officers at the ports of Baltimore, MD; Buffalo, NY; and Brownsville, TX is now scheduled to begin on December 5, 2011. This pilot test will allow CBP to assess the use of the ACE M1 system by its officers and early adopters in the trade.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted the draft agenda for its Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of Customs and Border Protection (COAC) meeting on December 7, 2011. CBP has also posted the following presentations, draft recommendations, and other documents (note that if the links below have expired, these documents are available here):

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a user guide on running Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) reports for rail and sea carriers. The guide provides information on basic functionality of the ACE Reports Tool and outlines detailed instructions on how to access available reports. Instructions address how to view standard reports, how to modify data fields within standard reports, and how to build fully customized reports from a blank slate. Additional documents on the ACE e-Manifest: Rail and Sea are available here.

On November 29, 2011, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued its November 2011 ACE Trade Account Owner (TAO) Update. The TAO provides information on a number of ACE and general trade developments, including the AM-100 report for importers (which replaced the mailed courtesy notices of liquidation), Post Summary Corrections, FMCSA status messages to ACE Truck e-Manifest filers, FAST cards, and Simplified Entry.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted an updated version of its 2011 Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) accomplishments fact sheet listing a total of 37 accomplishments from January to September 2011. Most recently, in September 2011, CBP deployed ACE functionality for monitoring the liquidation of entries and made progress on the Document Image System (DIS):

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message reminding the trade that it will cease emailing Importer Security Filing (ISF) Progress Reports after the December 2011 reports. The reports will be available to recipients through the ACE Secure Data Portal. Those who do not have a free ACE Portal account can access the online ACE Portal Application here.

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