U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently provided an update on the progress of its efforts to modernize the Automated Commercial Environment.
CBP states that it has pivoted from the term “ACE 2.0” and now uses “ACE modernization” to represent the planned addition of new components and capabilities that will enhance security, make ACE scalable to meet demands, and position ACE to adapt to transformed processes and evolving international trade requirements. This effort will not be a full-scale replacement of ACE but rather a strengthening of its foundation. CBP states that among other things it is looking for ACE modernization to increase supply chain visibility and accountability as products come to the U.S. border, facilitate faster government responses with earlier cargo determinations, reduce cash and checks at ports of entry, eliminate manual processes for CBP personnel and increase automation, and increase technical and cyber resiliency to help CBP adapt more easily to ever-changing international trade complexities.
As a precursor for ACE modernization CBP is promoting global interoperability standards, which will enable different systems and technologies to communicate in near real time while offering businesses flexibility to choose the technology they use. To date CBP has tested these standards using “high-impact cases” for the steel, pipeline oil, e-commerce, food safety, and natural gas sectors (click here for more details).
Later this year CBP plans to (1) conduct the final technical demonstration of interoperability standards, which will test the exchange of data between CBP and select foreign customs authorities to confirm that CBP can issue and exchange information globally, and (2) conduct a test of test pipeline oil from Canada and steel from Mexico. In 2026 CBP plans to work with partner government agencies to test natural gas, food safety, and medical devices under the heading of import processing.
CBP adds that ACE modernization is an agency priority and that it is working on a long-term strategy to update and maintain ACE through 2033 and beyond.
In the meantime, the Customs Commercial Operations Advisory Committee recently approved the following recommendations for CBP.
- ACE should return an ABI status message to the entry filer that includes the date and time the goods are actually arrived for all modes of transportation.
- CBP should distinguish the provisional and actual release dates in entry status messages.
- CBP should provide entry filers the ability to elect the entry date, in conformance with 19 CFR 141.68, in an automated fashion.
- CBP should prioritize development of a white paper that proposes to streamline the submission of ocean advance manifest data elements with the original intent of the Trade Act.
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