Customs Tests Filing
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March 23, 1998 Article by Government Computer News 'Customs tests electronic filing for import clearance.'

BY PEYMAN PEJMAN

GCN Staff

The Customs Service is testing a system to let import and export brokers file their paperwork electronically. Nearly 70 brokers are taking part in the Remote Location Filing pilot program, which spares brokers the need to be present at the port of entry to receive the cargo after Customs has released it.

To participate in RLF, brokers send digitized, unencrypted import information to Customs' data center in Newington, Va., using leased lines or a toll-free telephone number.

Customs stores the information on two IBM Corp. 9000 Series mainframes running MVS. Based on programmed instructions, the system suggests which clearance requests might be approved immediately and which ones should be referred to inspectors. Customs officials have the final say and can override any systems recommendation.

Customs field offices, using Dell Computer Corp. Pentium PCs, receive the clearance information by connecting to the Washington mainframe through the Treasury Consolidated Network, said Joseph Palmer, RLF's program manager.

Few brokers and importers are participating in the test because many are waiting for Customs to complete its infrastructure modernization. Customs has been shifting from the mainframe-centric Automated Commercial System to the client-server Automated Commercial Environment.

The agency had planned to roll out ACE next year. The project is behind schedule because much of the agency's information technology budget is going to year 2000 upgrades, Customs officials said. "People don't want to spend money on their systems to comply with ACS and then have to spend more money for ACE. Everybody is taking a wait-and-see attitude," Palmer said.

Once RLF is implemented nationwide, Palmer said, brokers will become more receptive. "It is obvious that when brokers file the papers electronically, it will take us less time to issue the releases," he said.
Could be faster Brokers and importers agree that RLF will be beneficial, but acknowledge their reception has been tainted by ACE's slow progress. "The systems issue is a problem," said Tony Stevens, a broker with Barthco International of Philadelphia. "ACE is supposed is take out a lot of the current software and protocol glitches that ACS now has, but it is not clear what's going to happen" with ACE. RLF has tested two prototypes so far. The first, with six brokers and importers participating, started in June 1995 and was concluded in December 1996. The second prototype started in January 1997 and will continue until December.

Customs has been using a form of online filing since the mid-1980s. It established the Automated Brokers Interface in 1984. With ABI, brokers send import data to Customs electronically but still have to manually fill out the required forms and be present at the port of entry to receive cargo. "Customs receives 98 percent of its 1.5 million monthly import release requests through ABI", Palmer said.

Advancing ABI, Customs introduced the Electronic Invoice Program in 1989, through which brokers can electronically send the required forms to Customs. A broker with a local license still has to be present before Customs can release the cargo. The agency receives about 6,000 such entries a month through ABI.