U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s ACE Portal for Exports is up and running, but there is still a long road ahead.  With various Participating Government Agencies (PGA) being mandated to have their required fields uploaded into the AESDirect Portal in ACE by the end of the year, you can count on seeing more and more changes in ACE really soon.

Some of the PGAs that will be going live in the ACE Portal for Exports are:

• Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
• Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS)
• Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
• S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)
• S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
• Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB)
• Others may follow/be added

While the PGAs have not gone live yet, it is important for exporters to review their internal procedures now. How will you as an exporter, get your PGA information filed?  How will you be supplying the right information to your filing agent if you have a filing agent file the EEI for you?  Do not wait until PGAs have gone live to prepare for the changes.  Keep your company informed and start updating your export compliance manuals to match the new export filing requirements.  If your company does not have an Export Management and Compliance Program (EMCP) please contact Merit Trade Consulting for help at matilda@merittradeservices.com.