Customs Automated Forms Entry System (CAFES)

CAFES (Customs Automated Forms Entry System) is a 60-day pilot program starting May 9th, 2001, in Laredo, Texas, and May 16th, 2001, in Port Huron, Michigan. At this time, the CAFES software is ONLY for use by trade partners moving truck-transported In-bond cargo over U.S. land borders at these two locations (unless legally diverted). Upon successful completion of the trial, trade partners will be advised of future expansion.

Let's examine a typical border In-bond movement –

Say you're a truck driver carrying goods In-bond, and you enter the U.S. The Customs Inspector reviews your Inward Manifest, and you tell him you need to see a broker to get a CF-7512 drafted for the goods you are carrying. The officer instructs you to report to the secondary area and then spend several minutes jockeying around for a parking space. Once you shut your rig down, you find where you need to be and wait in line (sometimes two) with numerous other drivers to get your paperwork. After that, you finally get your paperwork, and wait in another line to see Customs again...OK, you're set.

You walk back out, warm up your truck, release your air brakes, and finally pull out of the inspection facility. Informal border surveys tell us this will take you a rough average of 17 minutes, with some extremes reaching well over an hour during peak traffic times. How would you like the capability to bypass all of that, and yet maintain the flexibility of an easily produced paper document?

The Customs Automated Forms Entry System (CAFES) is a new U.S. Customs Service initiative being developed by the Office of Field Operations (OFO) in conjunction with the Office of Information Technology (OIT). This project envisions the use of standard two-dimensional (2D) barcodes and scanners to expedite the processing of in-bond documentation for the land border environment. Data content and quality are enhanced, enforcement and compliance promoted, and input tasking/hard copy document handling is reduced for U.S. Customs. By us having more information instantly uploaded into ACS (and later ACE) and passing edit checks within 3-8 seconds of scanning the barcode document, it permits us to release CAFES shipments from the primary booth with a large degree of confidence.

For Trade Partners utilizing CAFES, there will no longer be a need for them to report to secondary for routine paperwork processing. This will greatly facilitate the cross border movement of vehicle traffic and eliminate officers having to perform time-consuming data entry. Also, for those utilizing AMS, ABI and QP/WP, CAFES will support event reporting for the initiation, arrival, and export of the In-bond movement.

CAFES testing will begin at Port Huron and Laredo in May 2001. Upon successful completion of the 60-day trial test, CAFES is expected to expand rapidly to the land borders that support BRASS, and later to any area with high levels of in-bond traffic.