ACEs High: Next enforcement phase of e-manifest program starts in May
OTTAWA — U.S. Customs and Border Protection is has is moving ahead with Phase Four enforcement of the e-manifest reporting system under the Trade Act.
In this phase, carriers who arrive at the border and who are not participating in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), will no longer be able to rely on a copy of a fax transmission to a customs broker in order to indicate an attempt to comply with the Trade Act’s advance cargo information rules.
If CBP has not received advance cargo information from the broker when the truck arrives, the truck will not be allowed to proceed.
enforcement around the corner
This policy is being put into place at ACE-implemented ports, most notably Blaine, Pembina, and the Blue Water and Ambassador bridges, and surrounding, smaller ports, on May 15. It will be implemented at other ports 30 days after the date ACE was deployed and operational.
In February, CBP, at the urging of the Canadian trucking Alliance agreed to delay enforcement in an attempt to push more carriers to sign onto the electronic truck manifest component of ACE.
A particular difficulty for non-ACE carriers, noted CTA, is that their cargo data is typically conveyed to CBP by a third party such as a customs broker and carriers are not always in a position to know if the transmission was successful. Now they have no choice but to be on the same page with brokers and US Customs despite ACE being described as a lengthy and challenging process.
“Cross-border carriers are coping with a tremendous amount of change these days, and all the while trying to deal with sky-rocketing fuel prices and uncertainty over U.S. requirements for hazardous materials background checks,” said CTA boss David Bradley in a press release.
CTA says it has been assured by CBP that compliance with the Trade Act is extremely high, and that carriers should not expect a spate of problems at ACE-implemented ports on May 15. “I do understand the need for CBP to enforce the advance cargo information requirements of the Trade Act, so we will watch the situation closely and bring forward issues as they arise,” he says.
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