Earlier this month, Amber Road attended the U.S. Customs and Border Protection East Coast Trade Symposium in Washington, DC. The CBP always puts on a wonderfully informative conference, so it was no surprise that we came back with some great takeaways from this year’s event.
- ACE, or Automated Commercial Environment, was the biggest discussion point at the Symposium, demanding a first-day speech on the topic and a packed workshop the next day. You can find the presentation on ACE Deployment here.
- AES (Automated Export System), the legacy system that used to handle automated exports, is being decommissioned by the end of 2014. As with any big transition (export control reform, anyone?) companies will want a partner in automation to weather the changes in filing.
- The CBP has a lot in store for 2015: think deployments for FTZ admission entries, validations on additional taxes, fees and charges, and deployments on the filing of liquidations and protests. Specifically, you’ll want to remember two dates: On May 1, 2015, all electronic export and import manifest data must be transmitted through ACE. On November 1, 2015, all data associated with the release of cargo must be transmitted through ACE. (It’s understandable why that ACE workshop was so popular!)
- 2016 will bring the final group of changes, dealing with Post Release Entry Summaries and the process to collect drawbacks back from Customs, by October 2016.
- One of our favorite sessions was a panel discussion with Canadian, Mexican and US representatives. They mentioned the possibility of a joint US-CA-MX symposium in the future, since so much trade occurs between the three countries. Interestingly, Mexico announced that starting next year, they will allow self-filings, so that goods can be imported without a Customs broker. This move is huge for Mexico, as it will allow anyone to file imports – and take some power away from brokers.
The new CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowski is introduced to the Customs community.
CBP Commisioners give a Town Hall panel discussion.
Overall, the CBP put on a great conference – we learned a lot about the CBP’s mission to increase economic competitiveness though global partnerships and innovation, as well as the department’s vision for global trade in a new, modern era.
You can find other presentations from the Symposium, as well as dates and information from the CBP, here.
This post was published on March 27, 2014 and updated on February 6, 2015.
