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CBP implements May 1 deadline for filing import manifests in ACE

Air transportation is the last mode to roll over advance manifest submission to Customs’ Automated Commercial Environment system.

   May 1 marks another milestone in the much anticipated rollout of U.S. Customs’ Automated Commercial Environment.
   Mandatory electronic filing of import manifest data begins today. The manifest is collected in advance and examined as part of a layered approach to border security.
   ACE, under development for more than a dozen years, is the primary system the U.S. government will use for import and export processing across all relevant agencies. All regulatory requirements and documentation, as well as communication between industry and government agencies, will take place in the ACE environment. The new enterprise system is designed to get rid of burdensome paper transactions and move goods across the border more efficiently.
   ACE is replacing the legacy Automated Commercial System.
   The mandate essentially applies only to air manifests because Customs and Border Protection in 2012 turned off ACS as an approved system for transmitting advance rail and sea manifests from carriers and in-bond transactions, while e-truck manifests have been required in ACE for several years.
   Effective May 3, ACE will become the system of record for all import air manifests as the old mainframe platform is retired. CBP has been running parallel systems since January during the transition to the May 1 implementation date.
   CBP is working to produce an export manifest piece for ACE, but there is no current requirement to file electronic export manifest data. Export manifest filing is voluntary for the time being.
   The next major ACE deadline is Nov. 1, when electronic filing of all entries and entry summaries will be required. The American Shipper feature story “Hitting the Target” (February issue, pp. 16-21) highlights how customs brokers could face a day of reckoning if they aren’t prepared soon to transmit via ACE.
   CBP’s priority now is to ensure that software vendors are ready with middleware that importers and customs brokers can use to connect to the broker interface within ACE, Deborah Augustin, acting executive director of the ACE Business Office, said April 24 during a quarterly meeting of the Commercial Operations Advisory Committee.
   “Many of the ACE capabilities for that November date are already available and we encouraging filers to begin submitting transmissions in ACE in advance of those mandatory dates, not only for trade readiness efforts, but so we can identify any gaps we need to work on,” said Augustin.
   ACE has had a troubled history of mismanagement, budget overruns and delays, but in recent years new CBP leadership has restructured the program and made it much more nimble. Taking lessons learned and a new approach to software development has resulted in much faster implementation of key functionality.
   Michael Mullen, executive director of the Express Association of America and a former CBP official, expressed during the COAC meeting comment period a common feeling of satisfaction within the trade community that CBP is making good progress.
   “CBP’s effort on this has been astounding on every level.  The team that is working on this project has just been expending enormous effort and it’s clear that a really first rate job has been done on this program and that we are very close to a success,” he said.
   Mullen also recommended that CBP allow adequate time – perhaps six weeks for the private sector – to test its systems and work out any bugs as deadlines come up. 
   “And that means that the code has to be locked down at some date well before some date like May 1 or Nov. 1 so the trade can engage in very realistic testing with what is going to be the final version of the program,” he added.