AES= first expansion - to all seaports nationwide - took place on October 1, 1996. The export information is submitted electronically directly from the exporters or their agents through direct transmission or through service centers - some of which use the Internet. For those AES filers utilizing multiple US vessel ports, this first expansion facilitated the movement of their export trade and streamlined their export declaration filing process.
AES requires exporters and carriers to file some specific export information in advance of exportation, just as is required by law today in the paper reporting environment. The Shipper=s Export Declaration (SED) must be completed and filed by the exporters or their agents before the cargo leaves the country under current law. It is a common misconception that SED information does not have to be filed until four (4) days after the cargo has departed. The four-day post export filing refers only to the transportation data and was originated to allow carriers to accurately compile and report manifest data.
The expansion of AES to permit commodity filing for air and overland modes planned for February 1, 1997, will be delayed for 2-3 months. The AES Trade Resource Group and Commerce=s Bureau of the Census concur with U.S. Customs on this decision.
The October 1996 expansion to all vessel ports caused production activity to increase significantly. Transactions processed in October exceeded the entire previous quarter. Forwarders and service centers are now processing data for over 2000 exporters in the vessel environment. This is good news and indicates commitment and support of AES by the trade.
Due to the magnitude of the next expansion and lessons learned from the October success, AES is modifying its extremely aggressive timetable to one that is more manageable and will yield a better product to serve our trade customers. This new schedule will NOT affect filing in the current vessel environment. We will advise you when a new expansion date is determined.
Following this expansion, AES will identify the requirements for the collection of transportation data for rail, truck and air and develop the system design during 1997. Implementation of this segment of the system is planned on or about December 1997.
AES will reduce the burden of filing export shipment information with multiple government agencies because it will become the single information collection and processing center for the electronic filing of export shipment documentation required by the U.S. Government. A government agency resource group was formed to identify and eliminate this duplication in reporting to the government by exporters. AES will serve as the information gateway through which the export shipment data will be directed to the appropriate agencies having legal responsibility for specific export-related requirements. Initially AES will focus on providing agencies with the basic transaction level information and validation of shipments against previously-approved licenses. The three (3) partnership agencies participating with the U.S. Customs Service (Treasury) in Phase I are the Bureau of Census and the Bureau of Export Administration (BXA) from the Department of Commerce, and the Office of Defense Trade Controls (ODTC) from the Department of State. Eight (8) other government agencies have been identified for feasibility studies as potential partnership agencies in Phase II.
There are potential large savings inherent in moving from a paper-based, data entry-intensive system to a single point of electronic data entry. Significant savings can be realized when the burden of keying multiple documents for each transaction, and/or repeated keying to/from paper environment and to/from electronic media and back are greatly reduced. One carrier, who has been an AES participant since September 1995, researched their cost savings in terms of man-hours for data entry, couriers and messengers. According to a company spokesman, they anticipate future savings of $1.5 million, conservatively, to upwards of $2 million per year.
A study by the Census Bureau revealed that one out of every two paper SED=s is incomplete or contains inaccurate data. Because of the importance of these statistics for strategic and foreign trade planning, it is critical that the accuracy confidence level be far greater than 50%. AES has demonstrated the ability to collect complete and accurate data due to immediate feedback to the user when data is omitted or is incorrect. With good data both the commercial sector and the Government can make sound, informed decisions on trade policy and competitive international market positioning.
A future feature of AES which has been of great interest to the trade community is the AES-PASS. This is a program that will allow authorized parties expanded post-departure filing privileges subject to specific conditions. The concept is to create special pre-reporting exemptions for companies with proven export compliance records. AES-PASS applicants will be screened and tested for correct transmissions prior to implementation of their PASS privileges. The exporter or forwarder (on behalf of the exporter) will be allowed to apply for the program and an interagency panel will be responsible for authorizing the applicant=s participation. All applications will be reviewed according to criteria and standards that are currently in development.
Approval of the AES-PASS program will pave the way for increased participation in AES. The inter-agency AES-PASS Team is in the process of identifying and finalizing user requirements, and is expected to release the requirements mid-October. The results of their development efforts will be published by the end of October.
AES places the burden of reporting on the parties that have the information; namely, exporters for the commodity data and carriers for transportation data. The carrier is free to load the cargo unless he receives a message that Customs needs to examine that cargo.
Developing in tandem with AES is the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) which will become an Aumbrella@ system. Plans call for AES, the Automated Broker Interface (ABI) and the Automated Manifest System (AMS) to be folded together as an import-export system called ACE. This will facilitate pass through shipments (i.e., an import which is turned around and exported) by potentially requiring only one filing.
Also in development is the International Trade Data System (ITDS) which will integrate the federal government=s international trade and transportation information systems and serve as a data exchange link between ACE and our international trading partners. Ideally this would allow U.S. export data to electronically become our trading partner=s import data, further facilitating the global movement of cargo and the reduction in reporting burden. This should enhance the government=s ability to regulate trade to and from the United States, improve the ability to accurately report and analyze trade flows, and help level the playing field for U.S. businesses through accurate trade statistics.
For more information on AES you can call our 24-hour MarketFax line at (202) 927-3555, make a selection from the menu, and the document will be faxed to you. You can also call the AES Team at (202) 927-0280 or FAX them at (202) 927-5921.
Automated Export System
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