Commerce Advisory Committee Drafting Letter to Raimondo About Puerto Rico EEI Rule

A Commerce Department advisory committee plans to voice concerns to Secretary Gina Raimondo about the delay for a rule that would eliminate certain filing requirements for exports to Puerto Rico. The rule, proposed by the Census Bureau in September (see 2009160033), sought industry feedback on the possibility of nixing Electronic Export Information requirements for shipments to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, which many U.S. shipping groups and exporters say are unnecessary, costly and a time burden.

Census hasn't yet made a decision on the pre-rule because the agency is seeking alternative data sources to compensate for all the information that would no longer be collected if it eliminated the EEI requirements (see 2012090037 and 2104230025). But Michael Mullen, executive director of the Express Association of America, said the data can be gathered through statistics already being collected by the Department of the Interior. He is working with other members on the Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness to draft a letter to Raimondo. The group hopes to send the letter in August, Mullen said in an email.

“Census has had these responses to the [pre-rule] for seven months, and every time they appear in public, they say, ‘oh, we're still working on it,’” Mullen said during a June 24 meeting of the Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness. “It's clear that there are workable alternatives to the EEI data and that it's really not necessary.”

Mullen said he is turning to the secretary because he doesn’t believe Census will eliminate the requirements. “I'm not sure why,” he said during the meeting. “I mean, maybe they feel like it would be an admission that they've been making a mistake over all these years and costing people millions of dollars for nothing.” He said the requirements are “just too hard for them to eliminate by themselves. We really need somebody senior in the department to look at this and say, ‘hey this just is not necessary anymore.’”

Although U.S. companies and trade groups have pushed Census to eliminate the requirements, and others in Puerto Rico say the requirements treat the territory unfairly, researchers and academics say the EEI data provides a vital source of economic information for the island (see 2012040033). "The Census Bureau is continuing to work internally as well as with partner agencies to evaluate all comments submitted including the proposals for alternative data sources," a Census spokesperson said June 25.