Washington A record $1.04 billion in duties and fees was collected in September by U.S. Customs and Border Protection through the Automated Commercial Environment monthly statement and payment feature. Since the inception of the ACE monthly statement process in July 2004, CBP has collected $17 billion in duties and fees.

It took 14 months to collect the first $1 billion, said Louis Samenfink, executive director for the CBP cargo systems program office. Now, ACE has collected the same amount during one month. The growing popularity of this feature among the trade community confirms that an automated, account-based approach to doing business with the government is proving successful.

Currently, 42 percent of duties and fees are collected via ACE. The ACE monthly statement feature simplifies the payment of duties and fees for importers and brokers, streamlines accounting procedures, and provides reporting and trend analysis capabilities.

ACE is the commercial trade processing system being developed by CBP to enhance border security and expedite legitimate trade. Benefits of the ACE monthly statement process include:

1. Monthly payment of duties and fees instead of payment on a daily or transaction-per-transaction basis
2. Duty payments on the 15th working day of the month for eligible entry summaries, providing the potential for significant cash flow benefits
3. Online tracking of trade activities via customized account views
4. Access to more than 100 downloadable reports for monitoring daily operations