Census to Issue Decision 'Soon' on Puerto Rico EEI Rule
The Census Bureau will “soon” issue a final decision on whether it will eliminate electronic export information filing requirements for shipments to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, said Omari Wooden, a senior official in the agency’s trade regulation branch. Census is drafting the decision, which it plans to publish in the Federal Register, to offer U.S. exporters closure on the issue, which has been under consideration since at least March 2020 (see 2003100054) and 2009160033) .
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Wooden said Census leadership doesn’t want to keep industry in a “holding pattern” as it awaits a decision on the rule. “If anything, we want to let you all know, OK, here's the decision that was made,” Wooden said during a Dec. 14 meeting of the Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee. “Either we're going to keep it or we're going to remove it.”
The agency said in September it hadn't been able to find a legitimate substitute for the data, which would no longer be collected if the EEI requirements were eliminated (see 2109140037). In addition, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis strongly opposed eliminating the EEI, which BEA needs to calculate Puerto Rico’s GDP.
But U.S. shippers have told the agency that the EEI requirements are unnecessary, costly and a time burden (see 2106250021). Others said they discriminate against Puerto Rico by treating goods sent to the U.S. territory as an export, which imposes filing barriers and raises the costs of shipping to the island (see 2012040033).
Although Census will issue a decision, Wooden said he expects the agency to continue to field discussions on eliminating the requirements. While there isn’t yet an alternative data set to replace the collected data, Wooden said the government could potentially create one by incorporating Puerto Rico into more federal surveys instead of relying on the EEI.
“These are all things that I think are still in play,” Wooden said. “I think even if we were to put this rule out, I still don't think it's going to be the end of the conversation.”