BXA CHANGES DELAY RELEASE OF COMMERCEÆS EXPORTER DEFINITIONS
U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Export Administration admits that changes to its end of a new definition of exporter have delayed its release.
“We’re drafting the final version,” said Hillary Hess, BXA’s director of the regulatory policy division at a Joint Industry Group meeting in Washington last week. “There are still policy changes being made.”
The agency is making three main changes to its definition of exporter. They concern the application of Export Commodity Classification Numbers (ECCNs) on shipper’s export declarations; the supply of ECCNs or technical specifications for exports by U.S. principals; and the responsibility of foreign buyers in “routed transactions.”
The Census Bureau says it has no major changes to make to its current proposed definition of exporter. BXA and Census plan to release their final definitions of exporter together as early as March.
The definitions are similar in nature, but different in terms of their applications. Census says the purpose for the new definition of exporter is to improve the quality of trade data collected from shipper’s export declarations. BXA says its revisions will further help to enforce Commerce’s export regulations.
After the new definitions are announced in the Federal Register, exporters and their forwarders will have 90 days to integrate them into their operations.
Many exporters say they need more time. “It will take time for the industry to understand how it fits into their business process,” said Robert I. Kimbrel, export control administrator for 3M Logistics.
“Ninety days may not be enough time to implement the new rules,” said Raymond L Jones, policy and compliance manager for Agilent Technologies. The industry believes that it should have at least 180 days to implement the new definitions of exporter.
Census and BXA said they will hold seminars and provide assistance to the industry via the Internet during the transition to the new definitions of exporter.