Census Issues Final Rule on Mandatory AES (Part I)
The U.S. Census Bureau has issued its final rule to amend the Foreign Trade Statistics Regulations (15 CFR Part 30) to make mandatory the filing of export information through the Automated Export System or AESDirect, for all shipments where a Shipper's Export Declaration (SED) is currently required, etc.
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(AES is the electronic method for filing SED information directly with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Census. AESDirect is the Census' free Internet-based system for filing SED information with AES.)
Effective Date and Enforcement Date
Although this final rule is effective July 2, 2008, sources state that Census will enforce its provisions after September 30, 2008, in order to give affected entities time to come into compliance.
This is Part I of a multi-part series of summaries on Census' final rule and highlights its changes to the FTSR. See future issues of ITT for additional parts.
Highlights of Final Rule
Census is amending the FTSR in its entirety and renaming it to the Foreign Trade Regulations (FTR) to more accurately reflect the scope of the revised regulations implementing full mandatory AES filing.
The amended FTSR specifies the requirements for the mandatory reporting of all export information through AES when a SED was required. (Note that the final rule uses the term Electronic Export Information (EEI), which is the electronic equivalent of the export data formerly collected as SED information and now mandated to be filed through the AES.)
Specifically, Census is amending the FTSR to:
remove the requirements for filing a paper SED (Option 1), Form 7525-V, so that AES will be the only mode for filing information previously required by the SED;
revise the postdeparture (formerly Option 4) requirements;
create a new Subpart H to cover penalty provisions, which would include an increase in penalties for violations from $100 to $1,000 per each day of delinquency, to a maximum from $1,100 to $10,000 per violation, etc.;
add language specifying the procedure for reporting the value of goods to AES when inland freight and insurance charges are not known at the time of exportation;
remove the requirements for filing the in-transit SED, ENG Form 7513, from 15 CFR Part 30. Responsibility for ENG Form 7513 was transferred to the U.S Department of the Army, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers;
list the types of export transactions outside the scope of 15 CFR part 30;
specify the four optional means for filing EEI, of which two methods require the development of AES software using the AES Trade Interface Requirements (AESTIR);
specify that in "routed" transactions, the U.S. principal party in interest (USPPI) can compile and transmit export information on behalf of the foreign principal party in interest (FPPI) when authorized by the FPPI;
specify the time and place-of-filing requirements for presenting proof of filing citations, postdeparture filing citations, and/or exemption legends;
specify how to file EEI and acquire an Internal Transaction Number (ITN) when AES, AESDirect or the participant's AES is unavailable for filing;
add the Routed Transaction Indicator and a Vehicle Identification Qualifier to the list of data elements to be reported to AES;
remove Date of Arrival and the Waiver of Prior Notice Indicator from the list of data elements that should be reported to the AES;
reference in Subpart B export control and export licensing issues relevant to 15 CFR part 30;
revise the language that describes the proper manner for reporting cost of repairs and/or alterations to goods, and the reporting of the value of replacement parts exported;
consolidate in Subpart E carrier and manifest issues pertaining to provisions relevant to 15 CFR Part 30;
reference in Subpart F reporting requirements for import shipments relevant to 15 CFR part 30, including requirements for the electronic filing of statistical data for shipments imported into foreign trade zones (FTZs);
make other non-substantive revisions including revisions to language incorporated from the current FTSR, to clarify the intent of the regulations.
Census contact - C. Harvey Monk, Jr. (301) 763-2932
(See ITT's Online Archives or 03/18/08 and 02/26/08 news, 08031810 and 08022615, for most recent BP summaries on Census' mandatory AES final rule.)
Census final rule (FR Pub 06/02/08, D/N 031009254-6014-03) available at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-12133.pdf.