May 16, 2006
     

The following article is extracted from the 16 May 2006 edition of “The Journal of Commerce”.

Customs and Border Protection said computer glitches have forced it to postpone for a month enforcement of electronic manifest filing for truckers crossing into the United States from Mexico and Canada.

The agency said … in a notice sent to trade associations in North America that "unexpected programming difficulties that have not been resolved with the ACE [Automated Commercial Environment] e-truck manifest" and would delay "implementation of the Phase Four Enforcement policy" until June 15.

Customs has been allowing truckers arriving at border crossings with cargo reporting problems to resolve the situation by phone, if possible, and pass through. The enforcement policy was to end such leniency, said Louis Samenfink, executive director of CBP's Cargo Systems Program Office, because "too many [carriers] are abusing the system," arriving at the border ahead of electronically-filed information.

The ACE system is being deployed at land borders temporarily for use on a voluntary basis.

After June 15, Samenfink said, a carrier arriving at an ACE crossing with a filing problem "could be asked to return from where you came, get the information, make sure it is in the system, and then come back."

The enforcement policy will only be temporary. …

It is currently in use at about 25 points on the Canadian border, but not at all of the major commercial crossings.

Mandatory use of ACE by carriers will be required "by the end of this year [at] several ports, perhaps many ports," Samenfink said….

Only 230 companies, carriers and brokers have joined ACE voluntarily, mostly on the Canadian border, Samenfink said.