AES Broadcast  09/24/2008          Broadcast  #  2008044

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AESDirect Program Outage

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 This message is intended for AESDirect program users only.  If you are 
         not an AESDirect program filer, you will not be affected by this outage.

 Due to utility maintenance at the primary datacenter for the AESDirect 
         program, AESDirect will not be available for 4 to 6 hours beginning 
         at 10:30 AM EDT Sunday, September 28, 2007.  We will send out another 
         e-mail broadcast message as soon as AESDirect is back on-line.

We strongly encourage you to file your shipments prior to 
         this outage when possible. 
   
         During this outage all AESDirect program filers may submit shipments 
         under the AES Downtime Policy.  State Department licensable shipments 
         can not be exported under the downtime policy and must be held until 
         the connection is restored and an Automated Export System (AES) Internal 
         Transaction Number (ITN) is received.  Once the connection is restored, 
         all AESDirect program transactions for shipments that moved under the 
         AES Downtime Policy must be filed along with any new AES transactions. 

 AESPcLink users are encouraged to continue creating and storing shipments
         in a queue on their local computer for transmission when AESDirect
         is brought back on-line.

 If you utilize the AES Downtime Policy for export, please contact the 
         port where you will export from. In lieu of the AES Proof of Filing 
         citation, please use the AES Downtime citation which consist of the 
         phrase AESDOWN, your individual company's Filer ID, followed by the 
         date. 

For example:  AESDOWN 123456789 09/28/08

 Please see the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) web site for 
         further information on the AES Downtime Policy:

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/automated/aes/tech_docs/aestir/june04_intro/
           
         For further information or questions, contact the U.S. Census Bureau's 
         AES Branch at 1-800-549-0595, menu option 1 or at [email protected].