AES Data is Available upon Request, Compliance Best Practices Listed, Etc.

At the Bureau of Industry and Security’s recent Annual Export Controls Update Conference, a Census official discussed a variety of Census export compliance issues as part of the Export Compliance Interagency Forum. Highlight of the Census remarks include:

AES Data Available to USPPIs and U.S. Authorized Agents

Upon request, Census will provide AES data to U.S. principal parties in interest (USPPIs) and U.S. authorized agents for their company’s employer identification number (EIN) upon request.

In order to receive the data, the USPPI or agent must their request on company letterhead and provide the EIN, company name, time frame of data being requested, the purpose of the request, and a certification of authority. Census states that such requests should be faxed to 301.763.8835 or sent via express mail (and not by email).

Census will provide the USPPI or authorized agent each year with 12 months of data filed under its EIN free of charge. Any data beyond 12 months would be subject to a $125 per month charge.

Census is also considering whether it would be possible to provide the trade with real time data on their exports via the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE).

AESDirect and PcLink to Have EEI Manager Soon

Census also announced that in September/October 2010, it will be rolling out a new Electronic Export Information (EEI) Manager system to replace the defunct Daily Log function in AESDirect/AESPcLink.

(In August 2008, Census announced that the AESDirect/AESPcLink Daily Log function within the Shipment Reporting Center had been disabled and that Census was working on a long term solution to fix its problems. The Daily Log allowed for shipment responses to be retrieved by date of departure. See ITT’s Online Archives or 08/08/08 news, 08080815, for BP summary on the disabling of the Daily Log function.)

According to Census, the EEI Manager system will be available to filers and will allow the filer to recall records going back five years, create reports, etc.

AES Compliance Reports Available to Filers

Census sends AES compliance reports to filers on a monthly basis. The report contains the number of alerts in the previous three months for:

• Unresolved fatal errors
• Excessive late filed shipments
• Postdeparture corrections
• Verify messages

Common Errors/Violations Include Inaccurate Port of Export, Old Citations, Etc.

According to Census, common errors and violations include:

• Citing old Foreign Trade Statistics Regulations (instead of the FTR) exemptions
• Inaccurate port of export
• Submitting AES post-departure citation without a date
• Citing 15 CFR 30.36 for exports not destined to Canada
• Incorrect format of Internal Transaction Numbers (ITN)/Reusing an ITN

Best Practices Include Cross Training, Knowing the Forwarder, Etc.

Census lists the following as best practices for export compliance:

• Perform cross training
• Implement a mentoring program
• Know your U.S. authorized/forwarding agent
• Develop a training manual
• Attend seminars and workshops

Copy of Export Compliance Interagency Forum presentation available by emailing documents@brokerpower.com.