The Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) is the commercial trade processing system that provides a single, centralized way to connect U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the international trade community, and Partner Government Agencies (PGA).
At its inception, ACE was developed as a technology shift from the legacy Automated Commercial System (ACS) with little to no change in business processes. CBP now looks to modernize ACE through an effort called ACE 2.0. ACE 2.0 seeks to further CBP’s ability to safeguard national and economic security, enhance data integrity, account for emerging actors and business practices, and facilitate legitimate trade.
Through the ACE 2.0 effort, CBP will add new functionality and capabilities to ACE to achieve two key objectives:
- Implement the next generation of business processes envisioned by the 21st Century Customs Framework (21 CCF).
- ACE 2.0 will build on the vision of the Re-Imagined Entry Working Group, a collaboration with the trade through the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC).
- For more information about 21 CCF visit 21st Century Customs Framework | U.S. Customs and Border Protection (cbp.gov).
- Address existing capability gaps:
- Trade Facilitation
- Systems Integration/Data Sharing
- Supply Chain Transparency
- Trade Enforcement Management
- Anomalous Trade Detection
To lay the groundwork for ACE 2.0, CBP is promoting international standards for global interoperability. Interoperability will allow differing systems and technologies to communicate with CBP, offering businesses flexibility and technology choice, while enabling CBP to exchange data with a much wider variety of trade entities in near real-time. So far, CBP’s investment into interoperability has demonstrated exciting results, including the ability to expedite cargo processing and support enhanced enforcement activity. Testing is scheduled to continue through 2025. Under current projections, CBP aims to start broad implementation of ACE 2.0 capabilities no earlier than FY26.
The advancements of ACE 2.0 will vastly increase supply chain visibility and accountability as products make their way to the border of the United States. The modernized processes of ACE 2.0 will enable CBP and partner government agencies to receive better quality data much earlier in the supply chain, often in near-real time from both traditional and non-traditional actors, facilitating faster government responses with earlier determinations on cargo.
As CBP navigates the path for ACE 2.0, we continue to ensure the optimized operation of the current ACE system through the regular deployment of system enhancements.
For more information and resources about ACE, visit CBP’s ACE webpage at: ACE and Automated Systems
For more information about current and future testing projects visit the Testing and Development page.