International Trade Law News

The Census Bureau's Foreign Trade Division has issued its second "ForeignTrade Letter" to provide guidance on issues associated with the new Foreign Trade Regulations (FTR).

FTR Letter No. 2 covers "shipment reference numbers", which according to section 30.6(a)(19) of the FTR is a "unique identification number assigned to the shipment by the filer for reference purposes." The FTR specifies that this number must remain unique for five years.

The FTR letter notes that some AES filers have attempted to reuse the shipment reference numbers following the five year period but that Census has determined that AES was not configured to allow shipment reference numbers to be reused and that the capability cannot be added without a complete redesign of AES. As a result, Census is prohibiting the reuse of shipment reference numbers. Effective immediately filers can no longer assign the same shipment reference number to future shipments.

FTR Letter No. 2 can be found here (pdf).

Labels: AES, Census

The Census Bureau recently issued an important clarification relating to the filing of Electronic Export Information (EEI) through the Automated Export System (AES) for shipments between the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

FTR Letter No. 1, a copy of which can be found here (pdf), states that because Puerto Rico is within the U.S. Customs Territory, shipments from the U.S. to Puerto Rico and from Puerto Rico to the U.S. are exempt from the advance filing deadlines set forth in the new Foreign Trade Regulations that were issued by Census on June 2, 2008.

While the proof of EEI filing citation, post departure filing citation or exemption must be presented to the carrier prior to the departure of goods from the U.S. to Puerto Rico and from Puerto Rico to the U.S., the EEI filing does not have to be made in advance as required by the new advance filing requirements (e.g., 24 hours by vessel or 2 hours by air).

As a reminder, Census will begin enforcing the new mandatory and advance AES filing rule on September 30, 2008.

Labels: AES, Census

This is a reminder that today is the effective date of the the final rule issued by the Census Bureau on June 2, 2008 requiring that all Electronic Export Information (formerly known as Shipper's Export Declarations or SEDs) be filed via the Automated Export System (AES) prior to the departure of the cargo from the U.S.

The Census Bureau has adopted a 120 day implementation period. During the 120-day implementation phase, the Census Bureau will use “informed compliance” to reach out to filers identified as violating provisions of the AES rule. Parties submitting paper SEDs after September 30, 2008 will be considered to be in violation of the Foreign Trade Regulations and can be subject to monetary penalties.

The new AES filing deadlines for non-USML shipments set forth in the final rule are:

Sea: 24 hours prior to departure
Truck: 1 hour prior to truck arriving at U.S. border
Air: 2 hours prior to scheduled departure time
Rail: 2 hours prior to train arriving at U.S. border
Mail: 2 hours prior to export

Pursuant to section 123.22(b) of the ITAR, the AES filing deadlines for USML shipments remain as follows:

Air: 8 hours prior to scheduled departure time
Truck: 8 hours prior to truck arriving at U.S. border
Rail: 24 hours prior to train arriving at U.S. border
Sea: 24 hours prior to departure

In addition, for those using AESDirect to file EEI should be aware that starting on October 1, 2008 AESDirect will have heightened security measures and user authentication practices. These changes include:

- Individual User Account Administration
- Stronger Password Requirements
- Shorter Password Expiration Time frames
- Automatic Inactive Account Deactivation
- Session Timeout/Concurrent Login Limit
- Account Lockout after 3 Unsuccessful Logins
- New Account Administration Functions

Labels: AES, Census, ITAR