Commerce to Deploy New AES Warning Message for Controlled Exports

RANCHO MIRAGE, California -- The Commerce Department and CBP will soon deploy a new feature in the Automated Export System to automatically warn filers if they are exporting a controlled item without a license, a BIS official said. The agencies hope to launch the feature -- which should help exporters, freight forwarders and carriers better conduct due diligence -- in the next few months, said Richard Sylvestri, a senior export administration analyst in the Bureau of Industry and Security's Western Regional Office.

Sylvestri said the agencies came up with the idea after continually catching exporters list License Requirement NLR (No License Required) for shipments that clearly required a license. Many of those instances were honest mistakes by exporters who didn't understand licensing requirements, Sylvestri said. “We've seen exporters who don't know any better” list NLR for “heavily controlled” items, he said during the Oct. 15 Western Cargo Conference. He has even seen some exporters list NLR for exports of “highly controlled integrated circuits” to China, which are controlled under Export Classification Number 3A001.

The new feature, which will not make changes to the Export Administration Regulations, will alert AES filers with a warning message when their export requires a license but is accompanied by NLR. “So if your customer gives you 3A001, for example, the system is going to automatically figure out there’s a license requirement based on this particular ECCN in this particular country of destination,” Sylvestri said, adding that the feature was a joint effort of BIS, the Census Bureau and CBP. “We want to make sure that we can give a warning so that this doesn't happen in the future.”

The AES message will likely serve only as a warning message for its first few months of deployment, Sylvestri said, but will soon require the exporter to correct and resubmit the filing. “I've heard talk that we're going to give a courtesy message” for the first “maybe six months,” he said, “but eventually this is going to become a fatal error. We’re trying to stop illegal exports.”

BIS’s Office of Technology Evaluation is “happy to hear your comments on this” before the agency officially announces the change in AES, Sylvestri said. “We're just formulating this now,” he said. “We wanted to give you guys a big heads up. We don't want you to say, ‘OK, it's a fatal error,’ and have an issue. We're trying to break you guys into this.”

Sylvestri also said BIS has received “a lot” of calls from exporters who don’t understand a 2020 rule that expanded Electronic Export Information requirements in AES for certain exports to China, Russia and Venezuela (see 2004270027 and 2010140012). Although the requirements don’t apply to basic uncontrolled items, including those designated as EAR99, the agency routinely receives calls from exporters shipping food or clothing who aren’t sure whether they have to file in AES. Sylvestri said he received a call from an exporter last week who was unsure if he had to submit EEI before exporting weightlifting barbells.

“I’m pretty confident you're not going to find barbells on the Commerce Control List,” Sylvestri said. Many of those exporters are being directed to BIS by their freight forwarders or couriers who are also unsure whether EEI is required, he said. “If it’s not on the Commerce Control List, you don’t have to file based on the fact that it’s going to China or Russia or Venezuela,” Sylvestri said. “However, if you have anything with an Export Control Classification Number, then you have to file EEI no matter the value.”