AES FACT SHEET
January 1996
The Automated Export System (AES) is a joint venture between the U.S. Customs Service, the Foreign Trade Division of the Bureau of Census, other Federal Agencies, and the export trade community. AES is an information gateway for collecting and processing data for all parties involved in export trade. It will reduce the paperwork burden on the trade community, facilitate the export process, reduce costly document storage and handling, improve the quality and coverage of export trade statistics, and provide a single source for collection and processing of all export documentation required by the U.S. Government.

AES PHASE I IMPLEMENTED
AES began accepting data on July 3, 1995 by implementing Phase I in the ocean environment at five port locations. The ports include Baltimore, MD; Norfolk, VA; Charleston, SC; Houston/Galveston/Texas City, TX; and Los Angeles/Long Beach, CA. AES has attracted a number of export trade participants that include exporters, forwarding agents, transportation carriers, software vendors, port authorities, and service bureaus. Some participants are active while others are inactive. AES defines active as companies testing, certified, or operational in AES, and inactive as companies developing programs or having a letter of intent on file with AES. On July 3, AES had four active participants and forty-four inactive participants. The first four to implement were vendors ASA International and H.B. Ulrich, forwarder Alexander International, and the South Carolina State Ports Authority. As AES has matured, so has the number of its participants grown. AES rung in the new year 1996 with twenty-two active participants, which included seven operational, three certified, and twelve testing to become certified. In addition, AES has attracted eighty participants who have filed letters of intent to become active in AES. So far, AES has gotten good reviews from many publications and articles. Members of the trade have already begun to see the benefits from AES. One software vendor thinks that this is the best program that U.S. Customs has ever developed. "The response occurs instantaneously." One ocean carrier feels that they can save over $700,000 in expenses for the collection and distribution of Shippers Export Declarations (SEDs).

PARTICIPATING IN AES
If your company intends to automate its export process through AES as over 100 companies do, let the AES Team hear from you. AES requires a letter of intent on file from all participants. Please supply the following information in your letter of intent:

Please mail or fax to AES Implementation, U.S. Customs Service, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW, Room 7331, Washington, DC 20229 (fax number: 202-927-5921). Once U.S. Customs receives your letter, a client representative will be assigned to further assist your company through program development, testing, certification and productivity.

HOW DOES AES WORK?
Here's how it works! The exporter or an authorized forwarding agent directly transmits commodity data into AES. The data may also be transmitted through a port authority or service bureau. This data passes through up-front edits which check for accurate and complete information. In response to a good transmission, AES sends back a message that the data has been accepted. This commodity data is linked to a unique export transaction number (XTN) which is provided by the exporter or forwarding agent. The exporter or agent passes the XTN to the carrier or NVOCC. The carrier or NVOCC uses this XTN to add transportation data to commodity data. AES takes the burden of having to report transportation data away from the exporter or agent and at the same time takes the burden of having to report commodity data away from the carriers.

The data may be transmitted using any one of four formats, a suggestion originally made by the Trade Resource Group (TRG). The AES Team has defined the EDI record formats as UN/EDIFACT, ANSI X12, and two Customs proprietary formats (CATAIR and CAMIR). These formats are maintained on CEBB, the Custom's Electronic Bulletin Board. If a copy of the CEBB's User Guide is needed, it may be obtained via MarketFax, Ext. 111. If you are already familiar with CEBB, you can access CEBB by dialing (703) 440-6155. You may also call (703) 440-6236 for assistance.

PARTNERSHIPS WITH TRADE AND GOVERNMENTS
So far, over 125 public, industry or government meetings have been held and many more are already scheduled for the rest of 1996. The AES Trade Resource Group (TRG) consisting of 18 industry representatives continues to meet with U.S. Customs regularly. Upcoming meetings will include the presentation of AES-PASS - an AES program that will allow authorized parties expanded post-departure filing privileges subject to specific conditions. In addition, topics, such as AES marketing, evaluation, expansion, and other U.S. Customs initiatives are discussed. The Council on Automation System for Exports (CASE), representig software providers, also meets regularly with the AES Team to keep up-to-date with any EDI format changes and new AES program developments.

Three partnership agencies are participating in AES during Phase I. They include the Bureau of the Census and Bureau of Export Administration (BXA) from the Department of Commerce, and the Office of Defense Trade Controls (ODTC) from the Department of State. An expansion strategy has already been approved to explore nine more partnership agencies for Phase II of AES.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
The latest AES information is available 24-hours a day through our MarketFax line. To get a fax copy of an AES related document, dial (202) 927-3555 followed by its Extension number. For a menu listing of all documents, their revision dates & ext#, please enter Ext. 100. Periodically check the revision dates on the menu to make sure you have not missed the latest information.

You can call the AES Team at 202-927-0280 (voice) or 202-927-5921 (fax).

AES INTERNET Address: [email protected]

You can also contact your AES TRG Industry Representative. A list can be obtained from AES MarketFax, extension 103.