Customs ACEs the IT test (page 2)
-- Logistics Management, 8/1/2005
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The agency also is introducing "remote location filing," which allows approved importers and their customs brokers to submit entries wherever they choose. Thus, a Los Angeles-based importer could submit entries for all of its shipments in Los Angeles, regardless of where they actually entered the country.
Perhaps the most welcome part of the account-based processing initiative under ACE concerns duty payments. Since last year, approved importers and customs brokers can make a single, interest-free payment for all shipments that were released during one month—an enormous efficiency booster compared to entry-by-entry payments.
When goods for an approved importer enter the country, ACE automatically creates an accounts receivable posting for that importer. A Periodic Monthly Statement (PMS) is then generated on a date selected by the importer, who must pay by the 15th of the following month.
The potential for savings with PMS is enormous, according to Arthur L. Litman, vice president of regulatory affairs for FedEx Trade Networks. "One of my clients will save $2 million a year because of Periodic Monthly Statements," he said at the CONECT conference.
Toyota Motor Sales is already submitting 100 percent of its duty payments monthly. "That's getting us a lot of visibility with the CFO," said Customs and Immigration Compliance Manager Ikue Duncan in a presentation at the American Association of Exporters and Importers (AAEI) annual conference. "We're saving money and our administrative burden has been reduced. The CFO really likes what we're doing."
Importers and brokers also like the fact that ACE will treat clerical errors as just that, rather than as punishable offenses. And they're pleased that ACE will give them access to more than 60 different reports. Most will be available at both aggregate and individual levels of detail; examples include reports on cargo entry summaries, entry-summary compliance, cargo exams, historical entry data, and duty-payment status, to name just a few.
Although creating such reports is routine in most businesses these days, it's a capability the trade community has never had before. "For the first time in history, we will have the same information, in real time, that CBP has, not just aggregated information. We'll be able to get trade compliance information on demand," said Glenn Buzzeo, customs compliance manager for General Motors, at the AAEI conference.
All of the information available to ACE users will be accessed through a single point, the ACE Secure Data Portal. The portal is already up and running, and CBP will continue to add new functions and update existing ones. In addition to reviewing real-time entry data and creating reports, users can go through the portal to create accounts, access and update certain records, get technical support, and communicate with CBP.
As part of the ACE project, Customs is bringing the concept of a single point of entry to other parts of the federal government.
A few years ago, CBP took on responsibility for the International Trade Data System (ITDS). ITDS will integrate the data-collection requirements of the many federal agencies involved in international trade.
When it's completed, importers, exporters, and other international traders will be able to use the ACE portal to submit a single data set that will satisfy the requirements of more than two dozen federal agencies. That will save shippers a great deal of time and money compared to creating separate documents for each agency. Among the agencies that have already signed on are the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Transportation Security Administration. Continued...
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