CBP and Census Plan to Implement the AES Commodity Redesign on June 8, 2004

AES Commodity Redesign to be Available for Testing on April 5, 2004

According to Census, the AES Commodity Redesign is expected to be available for testing in the Education region of AES on/after April 5, 2004, generally on a self-directed basis, although Census-administered testing and assistance will also be available.

All AES self-programmers will be required to certify their AES redesign programming, and Census strongly urges that AES software be modified to comply with the 2004 Commodity Redesign as soon as possible.

Census adds that there will be a 65-day window (beginning April 5, 2004) to complete certification prior to the production implementation.

AES Outage from June 5-7, 2004 to Implement Commodity Redesign Formats

Census states that on June 5, 2004 at 12:01 a.m., the new Commodity Redesign formats will be moved into production, followed by a 72-hour system outage during which AES filers will not be able to transmit their shipments. Census sources state that they expect to issue further instructions on the transition to the new Commodity Redesign formats in the future.

According to Census, June 4, 2004 will be the last day in which an AES filer can send a shipment with the old commodity formats.

On June 8, 2004 at 12:01 a.m., the new AES Commodity Design format will be open to AES filers for transmissions to AES.

Highlights of Commodity Redesign Changes

According to Census, highlights of the AES Commodity Redesign changes include:

Many of the error conditions that are warnings now will become fatal conditions;

Data Entry Center (DEC) claims will be made at the batch level (A record) (currently made at the shipment party level (N01-N03);

a "Replace" shipment filing action request indicator will be supported to be used in place of the "delete/add" actions used by some filers to make changes to previously filed data. The change function will continue to be supported and a new "Cancel" action will be added at the shipment level;

The filing option indicator will be relocated and required for all operations (Option 2 requires a "2" rather than "blank");

Strict party reporting rules will apply and will be fully explained in the filing guidelines;

U.S. Principal Party in Interest (USPPI) IRS Number and Type will be moved from the block level (BN record) to N03 record;

Contact Middle Initial will be eliminated;

Vessel Flag will be eliminated;

License Code and Foreign/Domestic Indicator fields will be moved to the CL1 (Line Item Detail) record;

Shipment "to be sold en route" indicator supported in N01 record - Party Header;

CL3 "Marks and Numbers" record will be eliminated;

Internal Transaction Number (ITN) will be removed from the SC2 record and placed in the ES1 - response message output record;

The ES1 record will include a final disposition indicator that indicates whether the data was Accepted (A) or Rejected (R);

The ES1 record will include a severity indicator to declare the severity of the error (F-fatal, W-warning, V-verification, C-compliance alert, and I-informational); and

A complete new Appendix A - Commodity Filing Response Messages will provide the narrative text, identify the records involved, give the reason for the condition message and suggest the possible resolution.

AESDirect and AESPcLink Software to be Changed in Mid-2004

Census states that many of the AES Commodity Redesign changes will be transparent to AESDirect and AESPcLink users. However, Census states that AESDirect and AESPcLink users should expect to see some changes to the Internet based software in mid-2004.

Census' AES Newsletter (dated March 2004) available at http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/aes/documentlibrary/index.htmlaes_newsletters.

BP Note on Advance Cargo Information Requirements for Outbound

According to CBP's December 5, 2003 final rule, CBP's advance electronic information presentation requirements for outbound shipments in all modes of transportation, including the pre-departure time frames for reporting export cargo information for required shipments, and the requirement of the ITN, will be implemented concurrent with the completion of the AES Commodity Redesign and the effective date of Census' mandatory AES filing regulations.

As a result, Census and CBP sources have confirmed that although the AES Commodity Redesign will be implemented in June 2004, Census does not expect its mandatory AES filing regulations to go into effect until January 2005.

CBP has previously stated that the effective date of the advance cargo information requirements for outbound shipments will be announced in the Federal Register.