CUSTOMS, AUTOMATED COMMERCIAL ENVIRONMENT

New ACE Capabilities Available as of Aug. 8 Include RLF, Single Pay Option

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg Trade Report

U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports that the following new capabilities in the Automated Commercial Environment became available to trade community users on Aug. 8.
Remote Location Filing. RLF is available for filers who submit ACE entry summaries certified for ACE cargo release. Filing RLF transactions that are certified for ACE cargo release will allow filers to file single transaction bonds electronically via ACE eBond.
When ACE entry summary RLF transactions certified for ACE cargo release are filed, the invoice submissions to CBP must be sent via the Document Image System by (a) transmitting in XML format via the Automated Broker Interface or (b) sending via email. Allowing invoices to be scanned and uploaded will eliminate the requirement for brokers to key invoice information into their systems. At the same time, brokers that receive invoice information via EDI from importers will no longer be able to just click a button to send that information to CBP; instead, they will have to create an invoice from the data, convert it to a PDF and transmit it to CBP.
CBP states that electronic invoice submissions will not be supported through ACE portal upload functionality. However, there are indications that this may change after Oct. 1, 2016.
Single Pay Option. Previously when an ACE entry summary was submitted ACE had a validation in place that rejected the summary if it was not paid on statement. CBP has eliminated this restriction, allowing trade users to select single pay (which enables payment by check) or statements as options for the pay basis for ACE entry summaries.
Refactored Entry Summary Types. The way ACE processes entry summary types 01, 03 and 11 has been updated so that it should be faster and more scalable. CBP states that this transition should be seamless for filers.
Government Entries. Entry type 52 (government – dutiable) and entry summary types 51 (Defense Contract Administration Service Region) and 52 are available for filing and processing in ACE.