FTZ group asks CBP to delay ACE status designation rollout

The National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones (NAFTZ) has asked Customs and Border Protection to delay the planned Sept. 16 transition of the Application for Foreign-Trade Zone Admission and/or Status Designation (e214) to the ACE.    The National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones (NAFTZ) has asked U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to delay the planned Sept. 16 transition of the Application for Foreign-Trade Zone Admission and/or Status Designation (e214) from the agency’s legacy computer system to the new Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) platform.
   NAFTZ President Erik Autor told the agency in a Sept. 7 letter that a number of foreign trade zone operators have experienced “a disturbing number of systemic problems and new issues that need to be addressed before the rollout of e214 in ACE.
   “Currently, new issues appear to be surfacing daily, and the certification environment is being constantly updated in response to these issues,” Autor said. “Each time the environment is updated, all testing must be redone to identify any new issues.”
   NAFTZ is concerned that both the standard admission and direct delivery process associated with FTZs has not been thoroughly “end-to-end” tested in ACE. 
   Autor warned that if FTZs must revert to paper filing due to ACE functionality problems that it would “cause major disruptions in zone operators’ processing.”
   He also noted that another reason to delay the Sept. 16 e214 rollout in ACE is due to the high percentage of FTZs in the Gulf which are currently tied up in restoring their petroleum refining operations in the aftermath of hurricanes Harvey and Irma.