The following scenarios should be helpful to AES Participants, Client Representatives and Customs Inspectors involved in the outbound process. One of the major benefits of an automated environment is to achieve consistency from port to port. In addition, AES has the further goal of developing an electronic process which meets the needs of the exporting trade community and the numerous Federal agencies with export requirements.
Commerce/Bureau of the Census (Census)
| Paper | Census requires a paper Shipper's Export Declaration (SED) (Form 7525-V) to be filed with virtually all export shipments, including hand-carried merchandise, over $2500 in value. This requirement also applies to shipments between the U.S. and Puerto Rico and from the U.S. or Puerto Rico to the U.S. Virgin Islands. |
| AES | In AES, fields for all data requirements on the SED are accommodated. |
Thus, for AES participants, the paper SED will no longer be submitted, and all Census requirements will be met in AES.
Commerce/Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)
| Paper | No paper license (Form BIS-748P) is required to be presented at time of export. Where applicable, the BIS license number, license exception symbol, and/or ECCN is provided on the paper SED. |
| AES | In AES, there is a "License Type Code" field to designate whether the shipment is covered under a BIS license or exception situation. This will trigger, where appropriate, the requirement for an "Export License Number/CFR Citation", and/or "ECCN" to be entered in the related field. |
Thus, for AES participants, the paper SED will no longer be submitted. BIS requirements will be met in AES.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
| Paper | No paper license (NRC Form 250/250A) is required to be presented at time of export. However, the NRC "Specific" license number or "General" license CFR citation is provided on the paper SED. |
| AES | In AES, there is a "License Type Code" field to designate whether the shipment is covered under a NRC specific license or general license CFR citation situation. This will trigger the requirement for an "Export License Number or CFR Citation" to be entered in the related field. |
Thus, for AES participants, the paper SED will no longer be submitted. NRC requirements will be met in AES.
State/Office of Defense Trade Controls (ODTC)
| Paper | Due to the requirement for Customs to decrement the value of the shipment against the dollar balance of the State munitions license, the paper license (with the exception of DSP-5's and DSP-94's) is required to be presented at time of export. (The DSP-5's and DSP-94's are maintained on file at the first port where a shipment was made against the license. Note that DSP-94's --DOD Foreign Military Sales-- are not included in the State/ODTC-AES interface.) In addition, the State munitions license number or CFR Exemption Citation is provided on the paper SED. |
| AES | In AES, there is a "License Type Code" field to designate whether the shipment is covered under one of the State munitions licenses or a CFR exemption citation situation. This will trigger the requirement for an "Export License Number or CFR Exemption Citation" to be entered in the related field. This will satisfy the paper SED requirement. |
The automated Munitions Decrementation Program for DSP-5's is accessed through AES. For AES participants, their commodity data entry triggers the decrementation process. The Decrementation Program for non-AES filers is in the process of being implemented.
The paper requirement for SED's and filing of DSP-5 licenses at the Customs port has, as yet, not been lifted.
Treasury/Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
| Paper | The OFAC paper license/permit, for exceptions for certain commodities to be allowed shipment to sanctioned countries, is not required to be presented at time of export. However, the OFAC "specific" license number or "general" license citation is provided on the paper SED. |
| AES | In AES, there is a "License Type Code" to designate whether the shipment is covered under an OFAC specific or general license citation situation. This will trigger the requirement for an "Export License Number or Citation" to be entered in the related field. This will satisfy the paper SED requirement. |
Thus, for AES participants, the paper SED will no longer be submitted. OFAC requirements will be met in AES.
Other Partnership Agency Not Listed in Tables (OPA)
| Paper | There still remain a number of Federal agencies with paper licenses/permits required at time of export for which Customs/AES has not as yet established an electronic interface. This is due to a variety of reasons--lack of resources by the other agency, lack of upper management support by the other agency, other priorities on the Customs/AES side, or automation of the current process/ requirements not being feasible. |
| AES | In AES, there is a "License Type Code"--"OPA" -- defined as "Other Partnership Agency Not Listed in Tables." The OPA designation should be used in the related field in cases where agencies' requirements such as Justice/DEA Precursor Chemicals Permit (Form 486), or Treasury/ATF Tobacco Export Permit (Form 2149/2150) and Firearms Export Permit (Form 9) are not listed in the tables. At this point AES does not trigger the requirement for any further input (i.e., a license number, citation). However, the presence of the OPA license type code will give the Customs Inspector a heads-up that some paper documentation is required by another Federal agency not accommodated in AES. |
Regardless of other agency requirements, for AES participants, the paper SED (a Census requirement) will no longer be submitted. The Inspector should be informed, by a notation on the required other agency documentation being submitted at time of export, that the export shipment data was submitted through "AES", along with the "XTN".
Other Federal Agencies Currently Requiring Copies of SEDs/Bills of Lading, etc.
| Paper | There are a number of agencies which, at present, require the exporter to provide copies of Shipper's Export Declarations, Bills of Lading, Manifest, or other export documentation on a post-departure basis. This information is requested by the agency in order to fulfill specific monitoring and/or reporting responsibilities stated under Federal statute/regulatory authority. |
| AES | If an agency has such a requirement which is fulfilled by using documentation of another agency such as Census (SED) or Customs (Manifest), there is going to be a gap in information left now that Census no longer requires the use of a paper SED from AES filers. Thus, it will be the exporter/agent, who has been providing copies of the SED's, etc. in the past, who will realize they no longer have the specific form available to send to the secondary agencies as required. |
A viable solution may be for the exporter/agent to offer a printout to the requesting agency of the AES shipment data transaction. If the secondary agency has questions about the new AES electronic process and what it means in regard to the Partnership Agency's (i.e., Census) agreement with Customs, they should be referred to the agency which originated the form for clarification.