Recent changes to the Food and Drug Administration’s ACE supplemental guide will not take effect until further notice, an FDA official said April 26 on CBP’s biweekly conference call on ACE. The only exception is the addition of a new affirmation of compliance (AoC) “VQI” for CBP’s voluntary qualified importer program for food importers, which should happen in October, the official said. In the meantime, filers and software vendors should start phasing out anything removed in the latest version of the supplemental guide, “but there’s no planned date at this time to make any changes,” the official said. CBP released version 2.6.1 of the guide on April 24 (see 1804240034).
Though a new accounting class code will be implemented April 28 in ACE for duties on coffee imported into Puerto Rico, shipments from the continental U.S. to Puerto Rico, which are still subject to the duties, will continue to be presented as non-Automated Broker Interface entry summaries on Customs Form 7501, CBP said in a CSMS message. The duties, in effect since the 1930s, cover coffee imports into Puerto Rico under Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) heading 0901 and subheadings 2101.11-2101.12, 2202.99.28 and 2202.99.90, and amount to $2.50 per pound on regular coffee and $1.25 per dutiable pound on coffee preparations, CBP says on its website. The issue of filing domestic shipments came up during CBP’s April 26 biweekly ACE call. The new accounting class code is only meant to automate imports of coffee from foreign countries, which have up to now been filed non-ABI, a CBP official said. The automation will allow CBP to pull out and calculate the Puerto Rico coffee duty separate from regular import tariffs, she said.
Stakeholders continue to ask for additional and enhanced ACE capabilities, and the agency is working on system enhancements to enable de minimis functionality, CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan told the House Homeland Security Committee Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security in his prepared opening statement. Creating de minimis functionality "will provide CBP access to previously unavailable admissibility data for low value shipments, resulting in improved cargo processing and use of enforcement resources," he said.
CBP issued the following release on commercial trade and related matters:
It’s of the “utmost importance” that importers ensure their mailing addresses in ACE and Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) numbers are up to date as CBP begins processing refunds for entries during the recent lapse in the Generalized System of Preferences program, a CBP official said on CBP’s biweekly ACE call held April 26. CBP prefers that the information be updated electronically, as processing of paper requests may not happen until after refunds checks have been cut and mailed, which should happen for most filers by mid-July, the official said.
CBP issued the following release on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP released an updated version of the Food and Drug Administration’s supplemental guide for filing in ACE, CBP said in a CSMS message. “FDA has included clarifications for certain data elements based on feedback from trade, and removed several optional data elements,” CBP said. Version 2.5.1, dated April 10, makes changes affecting filing of all commodities regulated by FDA, including food, cosmetics, drugs, medical devices, biologics and animal drugs and devices. The update is FDA’s first to its supplemental guide since version 2.5 was released in late 2016.
Shrimp and abalone will be subject to new permitting, recordkeeping and ACE filing requirements for high-risk seafood beginning Dec. 31, 2018, the National Marine Fisheries Service said in a final rule. After being temporarily stayed following NMFS’ establishment in 2016 of the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) (see 1612080014), the agency is now moving ahead with implementation of the program for shrimp and abalone, in response to recently passed legislation in Congress.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters: