By John Herzo, Senior Associate
On February 19, 2014, President Obama mandated a single system for reporting export and import information. The system used to collect this information is the International Trade Data System’s (“ITDS”) Automated Commercial Environment (“ACE”).
By December 31, 2016, U.S. Government agencies are required to utilize the ITDS ACE system to receive data related to the release of imports and clearance of exports.
The U.S. Census Bureau (“Census”) currently collects export data from U.S. exporters via its Automated Export System (“AES”). Census will transition the collection of data via AES to the collection of such data through the ACE system. Census will also transfer data previously collected via the AES into the ACE system. The look and function of the portion of ACE designated for the collection of export information will be similar to the AES.
On November, 30, 2015, U.S. Customs & Border Protection (“CBP”) announced that all export filers that have obtained an ACE account may utilize ACE to file export data with Census. Note: if your company has an AESDirect account, your company will not automatically be given an ACE account. Your company will need to obtain a separate ACE account. To establish an ACE account, register at: www.cbp.gov/ACE
Both AES and ACE will be available to filers for use during a transition period that is estimated to be several months after November 30, 2015. We will update you once the a specific date has been set for the end of the transition period.
The added advantages of ACE over AES are as follows:
- The ACE filer can instantly view, free of charge, all export information submitted via ACE under its EIN number for the past five years plus the current year. Export information filed over the past five years via AES will be migrated from AES into ACE when your ACE account is set up. Filers still using AES can request one year’s worth of export information from Census for free and will be charged $125 per each additional month of requested data, up to a total of five years’ worth of data;
- ACE offers an auto-save feature;
- ACE allows filers to save partial shipment information;
- Filers can save complete shipment information for use with a later submission in ACE;
- ACE allows the filer to view the ACE interface in Spanish;
- ACE allows the filer to create user administration roles and profiles; and
- ACE allows the filer to create and save templates for future use.