CBP and U.S. Census Bureau have finished a draft of Federal Register notice for an Advance Export Information pilot, as part of enhancements within the Advanced Export System (AES), said CBP officials speaking at an Integration Point webinar held on Aug. 21. The pilot likely will launch next year, with the pilot FR Notice, set to publish during fall 2013, said Ted Clifton from the CBP office of field operations. “The FRN has been drafted so it’s undergoing review at this time. What we’re in the process of doing, at least us in collaboration with Census, is trying to establish an application process for participation in the pilot,” said Clifton. Clifton said budget constraints may prevent the desired transition to an online application process. The pilot program is a pre-departure filing that is “basically a revised option 3 process,” said William Delansky, who works on AES Re-engineering Development at CBP.
The U.S. Census Bureau on Aug. 19 released trouble-shooting techniques to resolve frequent Fatal Error notification issues in the Automated Export System (AES). Fatal Errors occur when a shipment is rejected.
The interagency Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC) is failing to provide U.S. policy- and decision-makers with enough information about how the government is allocating funding and resources for export promotion, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released Aug. 14. The TPCC, which is tasked with coordinating federal export promotion efforts, does not compile or report information on how export promotion resources align with federal strategy, GAO claimed. That makes it harder for agencies to decide how to best allocate future resources to increase U.S. exports in priority areas like small- and medium-sized businesses, the report said.
The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls issued a name change notification on Aug. 13:
CBP outlined the process for applying to become a user of the Automated Export System, which allows for paperless filing of Electronic Export Information. Interested parties who are not already using AESDirect must first file a letter of intent, then choose an interface method, and finally complete a certification with which the user's system is compatible, said CBP.
CBP and the Census Bureau revised their regulations for Electronic Export Information (EEI) filing for split shipments as a result of complaints from the trade industry, the agencies said. The revisions are related to a March final rule on Foreign Trade Regulations (see 13031501). According to CBP, Census "received feedback that the new split shipment requirement could not be implemented without considerable investments adding undue burden on the trade."
The Bureau of Industry and Security renewed its Temporary Denial Order against Mahan Airways and Zarand Aviation for another 180 days on August 6. The TDO was last renewed in February and was set to expire. The parties for which export privileges are denied by this order include: Mahan Airways; Zarand Aviation; Gatewick LLC; Pejman Mahmood Kosarayanifard; Mahmoud Amini; Kerman Aviation, Sirjanco Trading; Ali Eslamian; Mahan Air General Trading LLC; Skyco (UK) Ltd.; Equipco (UK) Ltd; and Mehdi Bahrami.
The Automated Export System (AES) will undergo a maintenance outage on Aug. 17 at 11:00 p.m. EDT until Aug. 18 at 8:00 a.m. EDT, the U.S. Census Bureau said in a release on Aug. 6. The maintenance will target the AES Production and Education Regions, according to the release. Shipments will be stored in a queue during the outage. The Census Bureau, however, urges exporters to file shipments prior to the outage time frame. For further information or questions, contact the U.S. Census Bureau's AES Branch at (800) 549-0595 or email address askaes@census.gov. In order to receive the release, interested parties can also request a copy via ITTNews@warren-news.com.
The head of the Office of U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), Michael Froman, announced on Aug. 1 support for a European Union (EU) decision to maintain duty exempt status for non-hormone-treated American beef exports. Froman issued the statement in conjunction with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The EU decision extends a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in 2009 that addressed a long-standing American beef export dispute. According to the statement, U.S. beef exports to the EU have skyrocketed in the wake of the 2009 MOU endorsement.
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the U.S. won a "major case" at the World Trade Organization on Chinese antidumping and countervailing duties on U.S. chicken “broiler products.” The duty hike caused American exports of the product to plummet, according a joint press release.