U.S. GOVERNMENT RECOMMENDS MANDATORY AES USE IN REPORT TO CONGRESS

U.S. GOVERNMENT RECOMMENDS MANDATORY AES USE IN REPORT TO CONGRESS    In a report released to Congress late last week, the U.S. government recommended that filing export data electronically should be made manditory.
   Congress requested a study into manditory filing of shipper’s export declarations in the Automated Export System when it passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act last November.
   The study called for the secretaries of Commerce, State, Defense, Energy and Treasury, and the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, to determine the advisability and feasibility to process all export declarations in AES.
   AES was developed several years ago by Customs and Census as a way to electronically receive export commodity and transportation data. Customs uses the data in the system to target illegal shipments, while Census uses it to compile the country’s trade statistics. Other agencies also have enforcement and statistical needs for AES data.
   The agencies recommended that a manditory AES program should be rolled out in phases over five years, starting with filing export data on the U.S. Munitions List and the Commerce Control List. During that time, the cost of system enhancements to AES will be about $19.7 million for Customs and $6.7 million for Census.
   The House Committee on International Relations and Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs will evaluate the findings of the report.
   In the same legislation, the secretaries of Commerce, Treasury and the director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, were asked to prepare a report about the security of processing sensitive data in AES for exports of munitions and cargo listed on the Commerce Control List. This report will be completed by late summer.