U.S. CENSUS PROPOSES MANDATORY AES RULES FOR MUNITIONS, CCL SHIPMENTS
The U.S. Census Bureau’s Foreign Trade Division has proposed regulations that would require information for exports controlled by the State and Commerce departments to be filed electronically through the government’s Automated Export System.
“Electronic filing strengthens the U.S. government’s ability to control the export of critical goods and technologies and weapons of mass destruction to prohibited and unauthorized end-users and affords the government the ability to significantly improve the quality, timeliness, and coverage of export statistics,” Census said in a Federal Register notice Oct. 9.
The 1999 Proliferation Prevention Enhancement Act calls for mandatory AES for exporters with items regulated by the State Department’s U.S. Munitions List and the Commerce Department’s Commerce Control List (CCL). The Census Bureau has assured Congress that AES is able to securely handle this sensitive data.
To accommodate mandatory filing for CCL shipments, Census and Customs have programmed tighter edits for the Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) data field in AES. The agencies also added several data fields to meet the State Department’s obligations under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
In the proposed rules, Census also proposed ending the Option 3 filing in AES. This option allows approved AES filers to file minimal shipment data prior to export, followed five days later with complete information.
Census said Option 3 is underused by the export industry. “Of the 734,916 total average AES shipment transactions collected per month, Option 3 filings average only 28,739 or 3.9 percent,” the agency said. “Additionally, of the 5,000 plus AES filers, only 53 filers are using Option 3 and of those, only 7 use Option 3 exclusively.”
The export industry has until Dec. 9 to comment on the proposed rules. The rules become effective 90 days after they’re finalized. For more information, access on line: http://frwebgate1.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate.cgi?WAISdocID=18386927159+0+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve.