The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) reminds importers, brokers, and filers that the second and final phase of the APHIS Core Message Set rollout will begin on March 15, 2021. Starting on this date, APHIS will fully enforce APHIS Core Message Set in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) by raising the severity flag from “warning” to “reject”. When this changes, users will be required to submit message set data for regulated products like plants, plant products, animal products, and live dog imports or their entry will reject.

APHIS provides a multitude of resources that users may refer to including the APHIS ACE website, the APHIS Core Implementation Guide, the APHIS Supplemental Trade Guide, APHIS Core Message Set Webinars, the Harmonized Tariff  Schedule Flags Code, and much more. Brokers, filers and importers may also contact the APHIS Core Message Set Help Desk at 1-833-481-2102, Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. to get assistance with their entry, or they can submit APHIS Core Message Set questions by e-mail to ace.itds@usda.gov.