CBP incorporates US Virgin Islands into ACE.

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Photo by Mario Cuadros on Pexels.com

According to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) media release, this week, the CBP has incorporated the U.S. Virgin Islands into the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) in order to expedite the importation process.   This marks the end of a 3-year process known as the ““Paving the way forward: Transforming the V.I. Trade through Technology”.

As you are aware, the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) is the system through which the trade community reports imports and exports and the government determines admissibility. 
CBP officers and representatives were also in the VI to perform training and to introduce the ACE system along with the APHIS Fruits and Vegetables Import Requirements (FAVIR) database.  The FAVIR database allows customers to search fruits and vegetables by commodity and or country.
Besides discussing ACE and FAVIR, CBP also discussed the risk of importing counterfeit medicine and merchandise – with CBP stressing that “medicine can be dangerous and pose a great risk to your health” and that the ” proceeds from the sales of illicit and counterfeit goods can have a negative impact on the economy”.

Customs posts Interim ACE Drawback Guidance online.

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On February 5, 2018, Customs posted the draft version of the new “Drawback: Interim Guidance for Filing TFTEA Drawback Claims”.

Starting February 24, 2018, filing drawback claims can be done electronically within the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). The interim rules published on the Customs website here will be effective during the “interim period”, starting February 24, 2018 until February 23, 2019.

For the next one year period ending February 23, 2019, drawback claims can still be filed (1) manually, (2) Core-ACE or (3) TFTEA-Drawback.

However, after February 24, 2019, all TFTEA-Drawback claims must be filed electronically in ACE.

If you have any drawback questions or questions about how to file claims during the interim period, contact experienced customs attorney, David Hsu at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com.

As of 2/24/2018 – ACE will be the only authorized electronic data interchange system for processing drawback filings.

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According to a notice posted on the Federal Register, starting February 24, 2018, the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) will be the sole electronic data interchange (EDI) system authorized by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for processing electronic drawback filings under NAFTA and non-TFTEA drawback.

After February 24, 2018, Automated Commercial System (ACS) will no longer be a CBP-authorized EDI for drawback filings.

The full notice can be found here:

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/01/18/2018-00803/automated-commercial-environment-ace-becoming-the-sole-cbp-authorized-electronic-data-interchange

If you have any questions regarding drawback or this Federal Register notice, please do not hesitate to contact David Hsu at 832.896.6288 or attorney.dave@yahoo.com.