The Bureau of Industry and Security is asking for comments by Oct. 9 on the effectiveness of its licensing procedures as defined in the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) for the export of agricultural commodities to Cuba. Under the provisions of Section 906(c) of Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7205(c)), BIS must submit a biennial report to the Congress on the operation of the licensing system implemented pursuant to Section 906(a) for the preceding two-year period. BIS is currently preparing a biennial report on the operation of the licensing system for the two-year period from Oct. 1, 2010 through Sept. 30, 2012. BIS will include a description of these comments in this biennial report.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is asking for comments by Nov. 5 on its existing information collection on offset agreements exceeding $5 million in value associated with sales of weapon systems or defense-related items to foreign countries or foreign firms. Such offsets are required by most major trading partners when purchasing U.S. military equipment or defense related items. An annual report based on offset agreements and offset transactions data reported to BIS by industry is submitted to Congress on the impact of offsets in defense trade on the U.S.

The Agricultural Marketing Service released the “Ocean Shipping Container Availability Report” for the week of Aug. 29 - Sept. 4. The weekly report contains data on container availability for westbound transpacific traffic at 18 intermodal locations in the U.S.¹ from the 10 member carriers of the Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (WTSA)². Although the report is compiled by AMS, it covers container availability for all merchandise, not just agricultural products.

The Census Bureau announced automated export system (AES) seminars and AESPcLink workshops in Wilmington, N.C., on Sept. 19-20 (here); Denver on Oct. 3-4 (here); and Memphis on Oct. 17-18 (here). The seminars will be in conjunction with the Association of Small Business Development Centers (ASBDC). At each seminar, on the first day, Census experts will cover the filing requirements of the Foreign Trade Regulations, Schedule B classification requirements, export controls, and best practices, and provide an overview of AES. On the second day, two AESPcLink Workshops will be conducted. Email documents@brokerpower.com for a copy of AES Broadcast #2012058.

The Census Bureau scheduled the fifth webinar in its eight-part series on “The Fundamentals of Exporting” on Sept. 5 at 1 p.m. The webinar, “Filing Export Information Electronically — The ABCs of AES,” will help exporters to easily manage export reporting by learning the do’s and don’ts of transmitting information through the Automated Export System (AES), Census said. Exporters will learn how to report shipments to the AES, how to avoid common problems, and how to respond to error messages. Census will also examine AES compliance and managing shipments by using best practices, it said. Registration is available here.

The Export-Import Bank of the U.S. is opening a 14-day comment period on an application for a $21 million guarantee to support the $19 million export of a wire rod mill to the Czech Republic, it said in a Federal Register notice scheduled for Aug. 31. The U.S. export will replace an existing facility and enable the Czech company to expand production of wire rod by around 50,000 metric tons annually during the 8.5-year repayment term. Comments are due Sept. 14 to economic.impact@exim.gov.

The Association of Small Business Development Centers (ASBDC) will host an Automated Export System Compliance Seminar and an AESPcLink Workshop in New Orleans Sept. 11-12, the Census Bureau said in AES Broadcast # 2012057. At the seminar on Sept. 11, Census experts will cover the filing requirements of the Foreign Trade Regulations, Schedule B classification requirements, and provide an overview of AES. On the second day, Sept. 12, two AESPcLink Workshops will be conducted. More information is available here, and registration is available here. Email documents@brokerpower.com for a copy of this message.

The Census Bureau revised its Automated Export System (AES) Best Practices Manual. Among other changes, Census added an Export Filing Resources section, which includes a list of resources available for training and informational purposes. The AES Best Practices Manual is available here.

The Export-Import Bank of the U.S. posted the following notices of commitments for loans of more than $100 million to support exports. Parties have 25 days to comment on each:

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it received a request for an export license for high-enriched uranium in the form of broken metal to the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited laboratories in Canada, for the production of targets for use in medical isotopes production. Copies of the request are available through the Public Electronic Reading Room link http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm.html. A request for a hearing or petition to intervene may be filed by Sept. 24, it said in a Federal Register notice scheduled for Aug. 23.