U.S. Customs and Border Protection December 13, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document announces U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP's) plan to conduct a National Customs Automation Program (NCAP) test concerning transmission of electronic filings of certain Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) import data to CBP for commodities regulated by these agencies. The test will involve using the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Partner Government Agency (PGA) Message Set and the Automated Broker Interface (ABI) to transmit the data. PGA Message Set data may be submitted only for certain entries filed at certain ports. This test is in furtherance of key CBP International Trade Data System (ITDS) initiatives as provided in the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act (SAFE) of 2006 to achieve the vision of ACE as the ``single window'' for the Government and trade community by automating and enhancing the interaction between international trade partners, CBP, and PGAs by facilitating electronic collection, processing, sharing, and review of trade data and documents required by Federal agencies during the cargo import and export process. The initiatives will significantly increase efficiency and reduce costs over the manual, paper-based interactions that have been in place. The PGA Message Set will improve communication between agencies and filers regarding imports and when applicable, will allow test participants to submit the required data once rather than submitting data separately to each agency, resulting in quicker processing. During this test, participants will collaborate with CBP, EPA, and FSIS to examine the effectiveness of the ``single window'' capability. This notice invites public comment concerning the test program, provides legal authority for the test, explains the purpose of the test and the test participant responsibilities, identifies the regulation that will be waived under the test, provides the eligibility and selection criteria for participation in the test, provides a link to a list of ports that are accepting PGA Message Set data under this test, explains the application process, and determines the duration of the test. This document also explains the repercussions and appeals process for misconduct under the test.