CSMS Message: 16-000453

ACE business rules for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are programmed to issue both warnings and rejects. Since the NHTSA pilot began in August 2015, about 1/3 of the entries that violated business rules were rejected while 2/3 of the entries were accepted with warning messages. By issuing more warnings than rejects, filers were able to learn about NHTSA data set requirements and to make changes as needed. NHTSA also gained valuable experience identifying recurring problems and assisting filers with corrections. NHTSA notes that many ACE-related errors involve incorrect HS-7 declarations associated with the corresponding agency codes that identify the commodities (e.g., Regulated Equipment Item (REI), Other Equipment Item (OEI)). A quick reference to help reduce errors is shown below.

HS-7 Declarations
MVS Only Boxes 1, 2A, 2B, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12 & 13
REI Only Boxes 2A & 7
OEI Only Boxes 1 & 9
TPE Only Box 11
OFF Only Box 8

NHTSA has now requested that CBP change the agency's business rules so that approximately 1/3 of the violations issue warnings and 2/3 of the violations issue rejections. For example, vehicle identification number errors and incorrect tire or glazing numbers will continue to be warnings while entries that are missing the required HS-7 declarations will be rejected. The above changes will occur in the CERTIFICATION region on June 13, 2016 and in the PRODUCTION region on June 25, 2016.

Filers should contact their CBP Client Reps for ACE-related questions. NHTSA will continue to work with the CBP Client Reps to assist filers with errors related to the NHTSA data set. You may also continue to email ACE-related questions to NHTSA.ACE@dot.gov or Clint.Lindsay@dot.gov.