U.S. Customs and Border Protection has updated its schedule for deploying additional functionality to the Automated Commercial Environment.
ACE functionality, including data reports, can help importers and others boost compliance and duty savings efforts. For more information, please contact attorney Lenny Feldman via email or at (305) 894-1011.
Air Cargo. An enhancement to enhance the 1X coding in the air environment to facilitate the movement of held cargo has been moved up from March 2025 to Feb. 15.
Bills of Lading. The deployment of functionality to release ocean cargo at the lowest shipment level, which will also provide a new user interface for container freight station operators to view information as released at the lowest shipment level, remains on hold.
Broker Licenses. An enhancement enabling CBP Headquarters broker management personnel to print up to 100 broker licenses at one time was successfully deployed.
Business Identifiers. CBP still anticipates deploying in June 2025 functionality that (1) expands the global business identifier proof of concept enrollment process by enabling trade users to submit one, two, or all three of the global identifiers for any party type and (2) adds an additional free text field allowing filers to input additional descriptions about the party/GBI number provided.
Cargo descriptions. An enhancement implementing the automated rejection of insufficient manifest cargo descriptions is still anticipated in September 2025.
Collections. Planned deployments include the following.
- integrating non-tariff bills into the existing interest service within the ACE collections billing module, including automatic non-tariff interest rate calculation for bills as well as the addition of non-tariff interest rates to the interest calculator screen (January, unchanged)
- integrating non-tariff bills into the existing debt management lifecycle within the ACE collections billing module, including late pay penalty calculations for bills, a new automated dunning letter, and new debt management-related fields for dispute dates (March, unchanged)
- migrating the existing credit card database to ACE Collections (July, unchanged)
Court Proceedings. CBP still plans to deploy in March 2025 an enhancement creating a new record type in the ACE court case module to create administrative records for Enforce and Protect Act and forced labor cases brought to the Court of International Trade.
De Minimis Shipments. CBP anticipates further automating de minimis enforcement by (1) providing a warning in ACE when a shipment may exceed the $800 per person/per day threshold (set for Jan. 11, 2025) and (2) withholding release of ineligible shipments in ACE (no sooner than Feb. 11, 2025).
CBP plans to release in February 2025 an enhancement automating the removal and restoration of entry type 86 test participants.
An enhancement adding bond validations for low-value shipments, requiring carriers and operators to provide CBP with any cargo held or selected for inspection and enabling CBP to verify active bonds in ACE, has been moved up from October to July 2025.
DIS Submissions. Disabling the option to submit form 1302A (cargo declaration – outward with commercial forms) in the DIS for outward vessels is still anticipated on April 1. 2025. Once this is done such forms will have to be submitted on paper or via ACE Export Manifest.
Drawback. CBP still plans to deploy Jan. 21, 2025, functionality (1) enhancing its review of oil spill tax drawback claims and (2) adding two new validations for petroleum Superfund drawback claims.
Exports. CBP continues to plan for spring 2025 an enhancement providing a trade-facing electronic export manifest portal to enable the filing of truck EEM bills of lading prior to departing the U.S. for Mexico or Canada and to allow carriers to add account data.
PGAs. CBP has delayed indefinitely an update adding broker/filer modernized ACE portal account access to documents sent by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Reports. CBP has implemented an update adding a prompt in ACE Reports to identify the subject company whenever a report is run or scheduled.
CBP has delayed replacing the Trade Export Data universe with the Automated Export System data universe in ACE Reports from November to Jan. 23, 2025.
Sanctions. Enhancements still anticipated for April 2025 will (1) implement the collection of new data elements to enable targeting of merchandise subject to sanctions on Russian diamonds and seafood and (2) enable the non-ABI collection of new required data elements for such merchandise.
Steel. CBP has deployed an enhancement supporting the addition of the steel melt and pour field to CBP Form 7501.
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