18 DC VELOCITY APRIL 2015 www.dcvelocity.com
newsworthy
By the end of 2016, the Automated Commercial
Environment (ACE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s
(CBP) automated electronic trade processing system, will
become the long-awaited Single Window: the primary portal for reporting information about imports and exports to
the federal government, and for government agencies to
process trade-related transactions and determine whether
goods are admissible into the U.S. CBP has set several mandatory deadlines for transitioning
to ACE, and although they are
coming up fast, importers and
customs brokers say it could be
difficult—and perhaps impossible—to comply.
May 1, 2015, is the date for
mandatory use of ACE for all
electronic manifest filing in every
mode of transport. On Nov. 1,
CBP will shut off the previous
electronic filing system, known
as the Automated Commercial
System (ACS), and importers
and customs brokers will have to
use ACE for all electronic cargo
release and related entry summary
filings, including communications
with other government agencies.
On Oct. 1, 2016, ACE will be mandatory for all remaining
electronic processing of cargo transactions, and paper-based processing will end.
Or will it? Todd Owen, CBP’s assistant commission-
er, Office of Field Operations, asserted that “those dates
are not going to slip” during his March 31 presenta-
tion at the Coalition of New England Companies for
Trade’s (CONECT) 19th Annual Northeast Trade and
Transportation Conference in Newport, R.I. Yet, according
to CBP’s own data, only a handful of importers are current-
ly filing more than 10 percent of their entries through ACE.
In late January, CBP’s top brass told the National Customs
Brokers & Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA)
that some 60 percent of ACE-approved filers had not even
tested the new system.
Even an early adopter like the customs broker A.N.
Deringer is only filing 80 percent of its entry summaries
through ACE. That’s because the system is not yet set up to
accept entry summaries for “spe-
cial” imports, such as those that are
entering foreign trade zones, are
subject to quotas, or require tem-
porary importation under bond,
among others types of entries, said
Amy Magnus, Deringer’s director
of customs affairs and compli-
ance, on a separate panel. “No
programming specifications for
those [types of entries] have been
released by CBP,” Magnus said.
Until the agency releases the nec-
essary technical specs, she con-
tinued, the vendors that provide
customs-compliant software will
not be able to program the exten-
sive changes and required new
functionality into their products.
Once the specifications have been released, the vendors
will face a lengthy period of programming, integration, and
testing; then the customs brokers will have to conduct their
own tests, Magnus said. If revisions are required, that will
trigger another round of time-consuming testing.
CBP held a technical meeting with software vendors in
Washington in late March to discuss preparation for the
Nov. 1 mandatory cargo release and entry summary filing.
Some functions, such as cargo release for all modes, are just
becoming available now, and others—including integration with agencies like the Food and Drug Administration
and the Consumer Product Safety Commission—could be
months away. With only seven months until the drop-dead
date, it’s doubtful that even the most diligent of importers
and customs brokers or the software vendors on which they
depend will be able to fully meet the ACE filing mandate,
Magnus said.
And what then? Speakers and audience members speculated that a temporary return to paper-based processing
for certain types of transactions or fines for noncompliance
could be on the horizon, and that clearance delays would
inevitably result. CBP’s Owen had left earlier and was not
available to comment.
—Toby Gooley
ACE phase-in deadlines unrealistic, importers, brokers say
A. Duie Pyle, a provider of asset-and nonasset-based transportation and supply chain solutions
in the Northeast, is opening a
logistics center in Westampton,
N.J. … Alliance Beverage, a
wholesale beverage distributor, has opened a new DC in
Grand Rapids, Mich., that includes a D.L. Neu automated
storage selection and shipping system.
ground breakers
A. DUIE PYLE
