Airlines praised the agency for responsiveness to their request for a short delay in filing electronic air manifests in ACE.
U.S. Customs’ five-week postponement of mandatory filing of electronic air import manifest through a new IT system is actually a positive development and reflects well on the agency’s ability to manage the rollout of the Automated Commercial Environment, air industry officials said.
Customs and Border Protection recently notified the trade sector that the scheduled May 1 transition of the Air Automated Manifest System from the old, existing system to ACE will not take place until June 6 to allow carriers and freight forwarders to test the system and their middleware that communicates with ACE.
CBP officials said during an April 30 webinar that they were still trying to resolve more than two dozen bugs in the ACE Air Manifest System. Carriers found more issues in their systems than expected, according to industry sources, due to the fact the new system is coded more strictly to the requirements of the air manifest messaging standards than the legacy Automated Commercial System.
The manifest is collected prior to aircraft landing in the United States and automatically screening for security purposes.
Air cargo officials said they view CBP’s delay as a good sign because it shows the agency is managing ACE well and is responsive to make sure all parties are ready to use the system when it goes live.
In a statement to American Shipper, Airlines for America, the trade group representing the nation’s major passenger and express delivery airlines, praised CBP’s “flexibility and close cooperation with the trade to assure that all stakeholders are ready for the Automated Commercial System Air AMS ‘shut off.’
“Because the air mode of transport depends upon the fast and seamless movement of goods, carrier and system readiness are of utmost importance, and providing carriers sufficient time to complete their necessary testing in the ACE certification environment is key to ensuring a smooth transition,” the group said.
The International Air Transport Association’s cargo division in the Americas said in a statement that CBP recognized the need to address some unique technical challenges associated with the air cargo environment.
“The willingness of CBP to permit air carriers to test for a few additional days in ACE shows the commitment to partnership and the global big picture that will make the system a truly paperless system of the future,” said IATA.
At the April 24 Commercial Operations Advisory Committee meeting, Michael Mullen, executive director of the Express Association of America, stood up and urged CBP allow adequate time for the private sector to test its systems for at least six weeks as new 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.
Nov. 1 is the date when all filing of all types of customs entries will switch over from the Automated Commercial System to ACE and become entirely paperless.
Customs gives industry more time to test ACE air manifest
