U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE THREAT TO ABANDON CUSTOMS’ ABI AVERTED

U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE THREAT TO ABANDON CUSTOMS’ ABI AVERTED       A threat from U.S. Fish and Wildlife service to abandon its use of Customs’ Automated Broker Interface system was adverted last week after a meeting between the two agencies.
      Fish and Wildlife made its intentions to quit ABI, a subsystem of Customs’ Automated Commercial System, known in a letter to Customs on Dec. 20. The agency complained that ABI didn’t adequately provide the import-related information that it needed to do its enforcement work. There was also concern about the cost increase of Fish and Wildlife’s interface to ABI.
      Fish and Wildlife and Customs have agreed to work together during the next 90 days to make ABI more useful to Fish and Wildlife. If the problems cannot be resolved, Fish and Wildlife would be allowed to leave ABI and the industry would be given adequate notice, said Elizabeth G. Durant, director for trade programs at Customs.
      Customs says that most problems with inter-agency exchanges of shipment data today will ultimately be solved by the development of the agency’s new umbrella system, the Automated Commercial Environment.