Broker Power is providing readers with some of the top stories for October 11-14, 2011 in case they were missed last week.
The President is scheduled to sign the bill that renews the Generalized System of Preferences program on October 21, 2011. This GSP provision, which takes effect 15 days after that date (approximately November 5), will renew the GSP program retroactively from January 1, 2011 through July 31, 2013. This notice describes the GSP renewal provisions in H.R. 2832 and the process that CBP is expected to follow for refund requests for entries made during the period GSP lapsed.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted its October 2011 update on its progress with the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). CBP discusses deployed ACE capabilities and provides status updates of various ACE projects, such as Document Image System (DIS), cargo release, e-Manifest: Rail and Sea (M1), etc. With this update, CBP states that it plans to discontinue dissemination of the ISF reports via email as of December 31, 2011. In addition, CBP states that the technology to support the collection of the PGA Message Set, which was targeted for release in October 2011, will be pushed out to November 2011 due to external factors.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message announcing that on October 18, 2011, it will host a free webinar on CBP’s project to simplify procedures related to entry and financial processes. The one-hour webinar will provide the trade community with the goals, status, and timeline of the project and conclude with a question and answer session.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a press release stating that it and the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America, Inc. are encouraging international traders to begin moving their import business process to CBP’s Automated Commercial Environment. "Our partnership with the NCBFAA will certainly help expedite the industry's transition to ACE,” said Allen Gina, assistant commissioner for CBP's Office of International Trade. "With the NCBFAA's active involvement, we expect to see ACE transactions increase dramatically."
In the September-October 2011 ACE Trade Account Owner (TAO) Update, U.S. Customs and Border Protection advises recipients of Importer Security Filing (ISF) Progress Reports that it will no longer email these reports after December 31, 2011.
In the September-October 2011 ACE Trade Account Owner (TAO) Update, U.S. Customs and Border Protection states that access to capabilities within the Document Image System (DIS) and the Participating Government Agency (PGA) Message Set will be available to ACE entry summary filers and ACE entry summaries only.
On October 14, 2011, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued its September-October 2011 ACE Trade Account Owner (TAO) Update. The TAO provides an update on participation in CBP's Simplified Entry pilot, access to DIS and PGA Message Set, ISF Progress Reports, and tips for running the ACE courtesy notice of liquidation report, and a recap of various recent ACE updates.
During two recent NCBFAA1 events, Food and Drug Administration officials gave updates on the pilot involving the Import Trade Auxiliary Communication System (ITACS), which ended on August 22 and included a limited number of filers from the Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Seattle Districts.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a Great Idea Form (GIF) entitled "ACT-840-Revision to Cargo Entry Reports for Simplified Process," which was submitted to CBP for review on October 4, 2011. The GIF suggests modifying certain ACE reports for a Simplified Entry process, as well as creating a new report that just includes Simplified Entries.