Census Requests Comments on Proposed Changes to AES Info Collection
The Census Bureau is requesting comments on a information collection regarding proposed changes to the export reporting requirements under Automated Export System (AES)1.
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Comments on the proposed information collection are due by March 25, 2011.
Census Recently Published Proposed Rule to Amend AES Requirements
On January 21, 2011, Census issued a proposed rule to amend the Foreign Trade Regulations to reflect changes to the export reporting requirements.
Changes that will affect the AES information collection include the (1) addition of new data elements in AES as well as modifications to current AES data elements and (2) the expansion of mandatory AES filing to shipments of all used self-propelled vehicles and household goods regardless of value or country of destination.
The fields that will be added/modified are conditional data elements. The additional “conditional” data elements include name and address of the end user, ultimate consignee type, license applicant address, license value, and country of origin. Also, the equipment number field will be revised to require the container number for all containerized cargo.
Census Says Exporters, Forwarding Agents, Export Carriers to be Affected
According to Census, exporters, forwarding agents, and export carriers are affected by this information collection. The estimated number of respondents is 288,747 and the estimated time per response is 3 minutes for each AES submission. In spite of new mandatory filing requirements noted above, the overall time per response will remain at 3 minutes as the additional time required to complete the AES record is offset by technological advances made to the AES along with filers’ heightened knowledge of the filing requirements and system functionality since the implementation of mandatory electronic filing in 2008.
The estimated total burden hours are 791,607 and the estimated total annual cost is $14,185,597.
(Among other things, the proposed rule would also amend the FTR to modify the post-departure filing program (also referred to as Option 4) and make remedial changes to the FTR to improve clarity and to correct errors. See ITT’s Online Archives or 01/21/11 news, 11012130, for latest Part of BP summaries on the proposed rule.)
1AES is the instrument used for collecting export trade information. The data collected from this source is compiled by the Census Bureau and functions as the basis for the official U.S. export trade statistics.
Census contact- Joe Cortez (301) 763-1413 or joe.a.cortez@census.gov