ACE secure data portal officially released

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has officially adopted the newly-designed Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Secure Data Portal.

The portal is expected to increase import and export efficiency while enhancing border security. After completing a four-month pilot test last month, the portal is currently available to an initial 41 importers and the CBP officers who support their accounts. Access to the portal will be expanded during 2004.

The ACE Secure Data Portal, essentially a customized computer screen similar to a web-site home page, provides a single, centralized on-line access point to connect CBP and the trade community. The portal will also eventually provide access to Participating Government Agencies (PGAs) with trade and border enforcement responsibilities. ACE enables information to be viewed more efficiently through newly established accounts, which consolidate information from each trader. Before ACE, CBP was limited to transaction-by-transaction processing at the border and tracking by hundreds of individual importer numbers for each transaction.

In addition, says CBP, advance data will be captured electronically and processed through risk analysis tools to help CBP quickly identify and confirm potential violations of U.S. laws.