Automated Commercial Environment (ACE)

The Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) is the United States' centralized digital system for processing imports and exports. CBP calls it the U.S. Single Window because it is one access point connecting CBP, the partner government agencies and the trade. Manifest, cargo release, post-release, export and partner-agency data all move through it.

What is filed in ACE

• Entries and entry summaries: brokers transmit the entry (CBP Form 3461 data) and entry summary (CBP Form 7501 data) through the Automated Broker Interface (ABI), with ACE entry types 01, 03 and 11 for formal, AD/CVD and informal entries
• Manifests: ocean and air carriers transmit cargo manifests through ACE's automated manifest systems; an FMC-licensed NVOCC holding an international carrier bond may transmit its own house bill data (19 CFR 4.7(b)(3))
• Importer Security Filing: the ISF is transmitted through ABI or vessel AMS; an ISF combined with the entry must go through ABI
• Export data: Electronic Export Information is filed in ACE AESDirect, the free web interface to the Automated Export System
• Partner agency data: FDA, USDA, CPSC, EPA and others receive their data with the entry and place or lift holds in ACE
• Post-entry work: post-summary corrections, protests and the liquidation of entries

ACE Portal accounts for importers

The ACE Secure Data Portal is the web entry point to ACE. An importer with an importer record (CBP Form 5106) on file can apply for an ACE Portal account online. With one, it can run ACE Reports on its own entry summary and financial data and check what its broker filed in its name; the IEEPA refund process, for example, starts from the ACE ES-003 entry summary report. Most importers never file anything in the portal themselves; entries still go through their broker's ABI software.

Why it matters to you

• Every release, hold and exam decision reaches your broker as an ACE message, so a pre-filed entry can be released as soon as the cargo arrives
• Your own ACE Portal account lets you check your entries without waiting on the broker when a refund or protest deadline is at stake
• The data you give the broker becomes the ACE record; mismatches with the manifest or ISF are what trigger holds

Airlift is an FMC-licensed NVOCC, not a customs broker: entries on the shipments it carries are transmitted in ACE by licensed brokers in its network through the customs clearance service.