ACE – FDA Interface Mandatory
On June 15th, 2016 CBP’s, new computer system (ACE) and the “new” FDA interface went live! We’ll be honest with you – many problems have emerged within the governments systems resulting in excessively slow responses, dropped importer FURLS records and a greater volume of data fields to be completed for a FDA importers entry – causing great time frames for entry data input. FDA on a number of occasions have had to post messages to Customs message system advising the public of their processing delays. Undaunted, the government moves forward to their mandatory July 23, 2016 ACE-FDA date.
FDA mandatory phase in period was from June 15th, 2016 to July 22nd, 2016, and all FDA entries will, by mandate have to be processed in the ACE on and after July 23, 2016.
As part of the new FDA interface they have added a multitude of new commodity codes for varying types of FDA regulated products, such as Food, Cosmetics, Drugs, Medical Devices, Radiation devices, and Biologic products. Then within those commodity codes FDA has added additional sub categories. As an example for Food you can have Products, or Ceramic and Glassware, or Food Ingredients, etc.
Our CBP interface system is fully compliant with all of Customs and FDA’s changes so, while we are ready and able to assist you we want you to know that, all in all – the new FDA interface will prove to be a challenge for brokers and the importing community alike.
