There have been a rash of recent updates and actions taken by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) notes will have a direct impact on the everyday operations of the US Customs brokers.
The NCBFAA Customs Committee urges that Customs brokers should go through their Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) portal account to make certain their Customs broker data, such as email addresses and contacts are up to date to prepare for this CBP National Permit regulations.
Many CBP releases have changed the information provided to the Customs broker, NCBFAA states. CBP has deployed the new ACE Forms tool for CBP forms 28 (Request for Information), 29 (Notice of Action), 4647 (Request to Mark/Request to Redeliver). The changes do not give Customs brokers direct access to copies of these forms, as they would need to change it in their ACE Portal account settings to receive a courtesy copy of them. In order to acquire a copy of the CBP forms 28, 29, 4647 by email, the “Mode of Communication” setting must be set to “Portal” in both the importer’s ACE Portal account and the Customs broker’s ACE Portal account.
When issued, ACE will receive the email address based on the filer code associated with the entry. As of July 21st, the ES-013 – Form 28, 29, 4647 Status Report is now “re-pointing” to the new Forms data universe in ACE Reports, according to the NCBFAA. This report will reflect CF28, 29, and 4647 that have been created by CBP in ACE.
Please note that not all Docs Required messages include an Action ID. Only when a receipt of an Action ID may result in a Document Image System (DIS) being overlooked, will this impact response and management functionality for Customs brokers.
Check numbers, amounts, and returned status, etc, will be provided pending a release for revenue. This information, however, will not be directly available to the customs broker.
“The ACE Entry Summary business rules document state that a [Post Summary Correction] (PSC) cannot be filed to change a 01 or a non-quota entry type,” NCBFAA states. “The new way to change a 01 to a quota entry is to cancel the original entry and file a new 02 entry.”
It should also be noted that starting 2023, the Customs Committee stated that, at the time of filing, entries for Craft Beverage Modernization Act (CBMA) will not be eligible for lower CBMA tax rates. The full tax rate must be paid by importers at the time of entry and that, for lower rates, they can later submit a refund to claims to Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). There will be no change to the filing requirements with the entry.
More information and tips are available here from the Customs Committee about these latest regulatory changes and updates from CBP. Tips include:
- How to run the ES-013 – Form 28, 29, 4647 Status Report
- ACE Resources
- AD/CVD Resources
- Where to update the Broker Primary Point on Contact (POC) at the sub-account level in the ACE Portal?
- Where to update the Mode of Communication in the ACE Portal?
- How to access the Forms Trade Portal in the ACE Portal
- Recon Fundamentals
As this progresses, Sobel will keep you updated with information relevant to the situation. As a company that employs the best Customs brokers, we make sure we stay on top of these changes. Should you have any questions regarding this please contact your Sobel representative today.
