CBP has issued a CSMS message stating that until further notice, the Philadelphia Client Representatives will be without phone service due to office renovations. For trade participants who are assigned to the Client Reps at the Philadelphia office, please email the Client Reps for all ACE, ABI, AMS, AES and other issues as follows: Eileen.M.Johnson@dhs.gov, James.Stahl@dhs.gov, or Anne.Keller@dhs.gov

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message and Fact Sheet stating that CBP expects to begin deploying M1's new capabilities to allow rail and sea carriers to transmit electronic manifest data to ACE in late summer 2011. To be able to access the new capabilities, ocean and rail carriers need to apply for their free ACE Portal Account now, and not wait until the last minute.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has updated its comprehensive ACE Frequently Asked Questions document by adding a section on Post Summary Corrections. In this new section, CBP states, among other things, that only the most recent PSC filer will receive the ABI courtesy notice of liquidation.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS notice stating that its Frequently Asked Questions document on ACE has been updated to include an 11th section on Post Summary Corrections that contains 15 short FAQs. See future issue of ITT for detailed summary. CSMS 11-000156 (07/19/11). Updated ACE FAQs available here.

Broker Power is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 11 - 15, 2011 in case they were missed last week.

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 Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General has issued a follow-up letter on the recent "Independent Auditors' Report" issued by KPMG LLP on U.S. Customs and Border Protection's fiscal year 2010 internal controls for the financial reporting of its Information Technology activity. The letter details the "significant deficiency" that was found for CBP's IT and financial system controls in the following areas: access control, security management, segregation of duties, and financial system functionality, and lists recommendations for improvement.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has revised its frequently asked questions (FAQ) document entitled "Voided Importer Record FAQs" that was issued in 2006, in order to update its instructions, among other things, on reactivating an importer record that was voided by CBP, or requesting that an incorrect importer number be voided.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a General Notice announcing that the National Customs Automation Program test (pilot) concerning the transmission of required advance ocean and rail data through ACE (e-Manifest: Ocean and Rail or M1) is now scheduled to begin no earlier than August 1, 2011. CBP states that applications are still being accepted for the M1 Pilot.

The International Trade Data System website has a June 15, 2011 version of its ACE Portal Access Application. The required documentation for Participating Government Agencies to apply to the ACE Portal includes a PGA User Application Form, Form 7300, DHS non-disclosure agreement and rules of behavior PGA form, among others. Instructions on submitting the applications by email or postal mail are included.