By Patty Davis U.S. Regulatory Affairs
Following years of planning, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) transition to the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) and the Single Window Initiative is nearing completion. With the exception of some, post-release processes (scheduled for implementation in late October), all electronic import and export filings are now being processed in ACE.
The submission of additional Partner Government Agency (PGA) information is at various stages of implementation. There are fifty PGAs that play a regulatory role in international trade and fifteen of those agencies are currently positioned to participate in ACE and the Single Window Initiative. Legacy systems, such as the largely paper-based Automated Commercial System (ACS), for example, have been retired. In that system, the PGAs collected or issued over 200 forms (including licenses, permits and notices). Many of these forms are being replaced by a PGA message (data) set, and/or through CBP’s Document Imaging System (DIS).
The Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) features more than 20,000 tariff numbers. In ACE, as a means of alerting trade to their potential jurisdiction on a commodity within a tariff classification, most PGAs are placing agency specific flags at the tariff number level. PGAs have claimed potential jurisdiction on a wide variety of products, collectively flagging over a third of all tariff numbers.
In addition, a third of the tariffs flagged by any given PGA, are also flagged by as many as five others –– this is known known as “PGA Crossover”.
Although flagging tariff numbers provides a convenient resource for determining which agency might have regulatory authority, it also requires that a determination and the required data or document images be provided when initiating the entry, prior to cargo arrival.
The PGAs’ jurisdictional authority is not being broadened due to ACE implementation, however, flagging tariff numbers will require an action from the broker on behalf of any and all PGAs that have flagged the tariff number. In some instances, the regulating PGA will be in an either/or situation: submit to one and disclaim the other. In other instances, where multiple agencies have flagged a tariff, we will be providing a message (data) set and/or imaging documents for multiple agencies.
Currently, four PGAs are fully functional and mandatory in the ACE environment. NHTSA (National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration), APHIS (Animal Plant Health Inspection Services) Lacey program, FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) require a data message set and some DIS submissions. There is some crossover among these early participants. As an example, all tariffs flagged by NMFS are also flagged by FDA. As the filing for additional PGAs becomes mandatory, based on the aforementioned multiple agency flagging, crossover will become more evident –– with actions required for each PGA that has flagged a particular tariff number.