Customs has announced this morning that they are pushing back Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the ACE e-Manifest deployment by at least 30 days due to ongoing system issues.

Here’s information from that memo:

“In February 2007, ACE began experiencing recurring problems with messaging to the trade participants. This problem prevents e-Manifest transmitters from knowing if they have successfully transmitted to CBP. This problem could potentially cause a situation where a carrier has filed a manifest, had it rejected by the system but did not receive the reject, arrive at the border and be denied a permit to proceed into the U.S. The messaging problem has been communicated to the trade and impacts the planned enforcement date of March 26, 2007. OIT [CBP Office of Information and Technology] has developed a fix for this scheduled for deployment in April 2007.

CBP has repeatedly stated that no enforcement actions would be taken beyond informed compliance if these actions were caused by CBP system problems. As a result the Phase 2 and 3 enforcement dates have been moved back a minimum of 30 days. The new enforcement date for Phase 2 is no earlier than April 26, 2007 and for Phase 3, no earlier than May 26, 2007. CBP will continue to monitor the compliance rates and system issues prior to beginning the next phase of enforcement. At this time, this only involves the ports in Washington, eastern North Dakota and Arizona.”

What does this mean for you?

Continue complying with the Phase 1 requirements of ACE e-Manifest. However, when your e-Manifest fails, bring a Trip Receipt to the border for confirmation that you made an e-Manifest attempt.

Stay tuned to www.emanifest.ca for more information.