Charles Riley, President, New York/New Jersey Foreign Freight Forwarders & Brokers Association

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Charles Riley

The most important change affecting the brokerage and forwarding community will be the commencement on Feb. 28 of Customs and Border Protection's Automated Commercial Environment and the International Trade Data System as the electronic system of record when transmitting date to various governmental agencies.

It is currently a challenge for all involved in the international supply chain, including the governmental agencies, to meet the deadline as mandated by the U.S. government. This is due not only to the complexity of the programming, but the large number of governmental agencies all trying to meet the same deadline. The concern is that there could be a huge disruption in the international transportation sector if all of the working parts of ACE/ITDS are not fully functional. Many enterprises involved in international trade are not yet fully aware of the impact ACE/ITDS will have on operations.

Participating governmental agencies are using ITDS as an opportunity to gain additional data on merchandise that falls within their regulatory authority. Various enterprises across the supply chain have to discuss how ACE/ITDS is going to affect their relationships and processes.

The start of ACE/ITDS as the official means of transmitting date to the government will create an extremely challenging operational environment in 2016 for all involved in international trade.