NCBFAA asks Commerce to “stay the course” on mandatory AES

NCBFAA asks Commerce to “stay the course” on mandatory AES

NCBFAA asks Commerce to “stay the course” on mandatory AES

   The National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America has asked U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez in a recent letter to “stay the course” on issuing its rules for mandatory electronic filing of export information.
   In late February, the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection threatened to hold the regulations unless the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau changes language in the rulemaking pertaining to post-departure filing of export information. DHS and CBP also demanded the right to share U.S. export information with other governments and federal agencies.
   DHS and CBP want Census to either eliminate post-departure filing in the Automated Export System, so-called Option 4, or substantially increase the requirements for accepting new companies in the program. DHS and CBP also do not want existing post-departure filers simply grandfathered into the mandatory program.
   “Option 4 poses no threat to our security: ‘grandfathered’ participants are our most reputable U.S. firms,” said Federico Zuniga, president of the NCBFAA, in a March 16 letter to Gutierrez.
   “Option 4 helps expedite the shipment of U.S. exports at a time when we need to be enhancing the flow of goods outbound, not finding ways to slow them down,” Zuniga said.
   The NCBFAA also challenged CBP’s right to share U.S. export information with foreign governments. “The demand for proprietary export data, on the other hand, is designed to meet CBP’s negotiations within the World Customs Organization, a commitment made without consultation with Commerce and without a change in the law,” Zuniga said.