U.S. CENSUS, BXA PUBLISH FINAL DEFINITION OF EXPORTER

U.S. CENSUS, BXA PUBLISH FINAL DEFINITION OF EXPORTER    The U.S. Commerce Department’s Census Bureau and Export Administration are expected to publish their new exporter definitions in the Federal Register today.
   During the past three years, the agencies have met with exporter and freight forwarding groups to develop these definitions.
   With the new definitions, Census will be able to compile more accurate trade statistics, while the Export Administration will conduct more effective enforcement work.
   The biggest change is the replacement of “exporter” in Box 1A of the shipper’s export declaration (SED) with “U.S. principal party in interest.” The U.S. principal party in interest can be the U.S. seller, manufacturer, order party, and foreign person or entity when items are purchased or obtained in the United States for export.
   Another significant change to Census’ exporter definition is the requirement for the U.S. principal party in interest to report value information in routed export transactions. The agency also changed its record retention requirement for the industry from three years to five years to match the Export Administration’s record keeping rules.
   “For the first time, we have put forth clear language that the U.S. principal party in interest, consignee and forwarding agent all have a stake in completing the SED,” said Jerome M. Greenwell, chief or regulations, outreach and education for Census’ Foreign Trade Division in Suitland, Md.
   There’s still some industry outcry about creating another field on the SED for U.S. principal party in interest, instead of replacing the exporter field with it.
   The agencies remain firm with the language of their new exporter definitions. “It’s time to see how to make this thing work,” Greenwell said.