Highlights of Census' October 2007 AES Newsletter
The Census Bureau has posted to its Web site the October 2007 issue of its AES Newsletter. Highlights of the newsletter include:
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
Instructions for submitting a voluntary self-disclosure for FTSR violations. The October 2007 newsletter includes instructions for submitting a voluntary self-disclosure (VSD). Census states that it strongly encourages companies, without prompting from other Federal agencies, to discover, disclose, and correct potential violations of the Foreign Trade Statistics Regulations (FTSR). According to Census, a VSD must be made when information was not reported or when incorrect information was provided (whether deliberate or unintentional).
Census states that a VSD cannot be used to report a correction to a shipment. Shipments must be filed based on the information known at the time of export. If that information changes after the export, corrections/amendments must be made to the transaction information in the AES/Shipper's Export Declaration (SED). Census further states that shipments must be corrected as soon as possible, whether prior to or after submission of the VSD. (See 15 CFR 30.64 for instructions on making corrections.)
AES Compliance Review Program has improved compliance. Census states that since it successfully launched its Automated Export System (AES) Compliance Review Program in July 2007, compliance has improved. According to Census, the rate for shipments reported late was 2.90% in January 2007, but had reduced to 1.60% in August 2007. Census notes that within a month following a company visit, it has seen significant improvement in that company's compliance rates.
Census previously explained that under the AES Compliance Review Program, companies with unacceptable compliance rates and excessive unresolved fatal errors dating from July 2004 may be contacted by Census in order to have a visit scheduled by the AES Compliance Review team. Following the visit, companies will be granted 90 days to comply with the recommendations provided by the team. If the company does not achieve the required compliance level within 90 days, their AES reporting privileges may be suspended and referrals may be made to government enforcement agencies. If a company is suspended, it will be required to find an alternative method to file its export information.
2008 AES Export and Import Concordances. Census states that the 2008 AES Export and Import Concordances will be available in late December 2007 at http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/aes/documentlibrary/index.htmlconcordance.
AESPcLink reminder to update AESDirect Code Tables. AESPcLink users are reminded to update their AESDirect Code Tables no later than January 2008.
February-May 2008 compliance seminars. Census notes that its Foreign Trade Division will participate in the following Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) compliance seminars:
| Date |
| February 13-14, 2008 |
| February 20-21, 2008 |
| April 8-9, 2008 |
| April 16-17, 2008 |
| May 7-8, 2008 |
| May 14-15, 2008 |
(See ITT's Online Archives or 10/12/07 news, 07101225, for BP summary on the availability of a Best Practices Manual for the AES Compliance Review Program.
See ITT's Online Archives or 09/05/07 news, 07090520, for BP summary on the July 2007 AES newsletter which announced that the AES Compliance Review Program was launched nationwide in July 2007.)
AES Newsletter (dated October 2007) available at http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/aes/aesnewsletter102007.pdf.