U.S. Customs and Border Protection has announced that it is again postponing the mandatory use of the Automated Commercial Environment for liquidation, drawback, reconciliation, duty deferral, collections, statements, and the Automated Surety Interface. This transition had been scheduled to take place Oct. 29 but CBP states that additional time is needed for stakeholders to prepare and for the agency to gather public comment on the associated regulatory changes. CBP is now targeting January 2017 for the transition and will provide additional clarification regarding the precise date in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, all capabilities included in the forthcoming transition that CBP has planned for the certification environment are now operational in that environment, and CBP encourages trade users to take advantage of the additional time to test their software fully. CBP also encourages the trade community to continue to participate in ACE partner government agency pilots, noting that PGAs will provide additional information regarding the conclusion of their pilots as appropriate.