The official notice instituting APHIS-CORE is expected to be published in the Federal Register this January. APHIS-CORE is the program that will institute mandatory electronic filing of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data elements through the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Automated Commercial Environment (ACE).
APHIS-CORE incorporates the electronic transmission of data elements currently provided on USDA forms such as import permits, phytosanitary certificates, and health certificates. There will be a few exceptions for documents that will remain paper and/or required to be uploaded through the CBP Document Imaging System (DIS).  APHIS has published an Implementation Guide and a Supplementary Trade Guide.