Appeals Court Restores Access to FWS Web Site, Including eDecs
The Department of the Interior (Interior) has announced that on March 24, 2004, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted an emergency administrative stay of the U.S. District Court injunction that disconnected most of Interior's computer systems, including that of the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), from the Internet beginning on March 15, 2004.
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According to Interior, it will be working aggressively with the Justice Department in its appeal of the U.S. District Court's March 15, 2004 injunction.
(On March 15, 2004, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered most of Interior, including FWS, to disconnect all of their computer systems from the Internet as a result of an ongoing dispute over Interior's maintenance and preservation of individual Indian trust data. See ITT's Online Archives or 03/22/04 news, 04032205, for BP summary.)
Interior Began to Restore its Internet Connections on Evening of March 24, 2004
According to Interior and press reports, Interior began to restore its Internet connections across all of its impacted agencies as of the evening of March 24, 2004 and stated that it would work quickly to restore them to pre-injunction levels.
eDecs is Again Available to the Trade Community
Local FWS port sources have confirmed that due to the restoration of the FWS Web site, access to FWS' electronic declaration system, eDecs, is again available to the trade community from FWS' Web site at http://www.le.fws.gov/Info_Importers_Exporters.htm by clicking on the eDecs button.
(eDecs, FWS' electronic declaration system, is a voluntary system for filing the Declaration for Importation or Exportation of Fish or Wildlife (FWS Form 3-177), and is an alternative to filing a paper FWS Form 3-177. According to FWS sources, eDecs is only for the Form 3-177; other components of the filers document package still have to be submitted in paper form. See ITT's Online Archives or 03/04/03 news, 03030405, for BP summary.)
Interior announcement (dated 03/24/04) at http://www.doi.gov/news/040325.htm.