# Presentation: 821840

## Reduce Exporting Stress with AES

**Automated Export System Branch**
**Foreign Trade Division**
**U.S. Census Bureau**

## Today’s Topics

- AES Statistics
- What is AES?
- Benefits of AES
- Who Can File in AES?
- AES Filing Options
- Proof of Filing Citations
- AES Generated Responses
- AES Progress Reports
- Mandatory AES
- AES*Direct*

## What is AES?	

- The Automated Export System is the electronic filing of:
- Shipper’s Export Declarations (SEDs)
- Ocean Outward Manifest

## Benefits of AES

- Saves time and money
- Eliminates paper
- Reduces duplicate reporting
- Improves trade statistics
- Increases compliance

## Who Can File in AES?

- U.S. Principal Parties in Interest
- Authorized Agents
- Domiciled in the United States
- Authorized by POA or Written Authorization

## AES Statistics

- As of March 2006
- # of AES filers:				21,441
- AES*Direct* 				20,683
- AES mainframe			     758
- More than 1 million shipments per month
- More than 2 million records per month
- 96.1 % of eligible shipments reported in AES
- 	Approximately 55,000 SEDs a month
**	****	**

## AES Statistics

- Pre-departure Filings 			      85%
- Post-departure Filings			      15%
- Approvals for Post-departure Filing   	    2,186
- Transactions Reported Late		     2.1%

## AES Filing Options

- Pre-departure Filing
- File all elements in AES prior  to exportation
- Post-departure Filing
- Only USPPIs can be approved
- File prior 10 calendar days after exportation
- Moratorium on LOIs since August 2003
- Acceptance of new LOIs when Final Rule for Mandatory AES is implemented

## Proof of Filing Citations

- Refer to FTSR Letter 168 (Amendment 2)
- _Pre-departure Filing_
** **AES ITN
- 		AES X20060420000001
- NDR AES XTN (Filer’s EIN – SRN)
- 		NDR AES 123456789-CARGO001
- 		Expires with Full Mandatory AES

## Proof of Filing Citations

- _Post-departure Filing_
- Authorized Agent filing for the USPPI
- NDR AES4 USPPI EIN – Filer EIN
- NDR AES4 12345678900-123456789
- USPPI filing directly to AES
- NDR AES4  USPPI EIN
- NDR AES4 123456789

## USML Filing Time Frames

- State Department’s United States Munitions List items (USML)
- 	–	Air:  8 hours prior to departure
- 	–	Truck:  8 hours prior to departure
- 	–	Rail:  24 hours prior to departure
- 	–	Vessel:  24 hours prior to departure

## Pre-Departure Filing Rules

- _Proposed Filing Time frames_
- Air – No later than 2 hours prior to scheduled departure time
- Vessel – Prior to loading, but no later than 24 hours prior to departure
- Rail – No later than 2 hours prior to train arriving at the U.S. border
- Truck – No later than 1 hour prior to truck arriving at the U.S. border
- Mail – No later than 2 hours prior to exportation
- Exports to Puerto Rico
- Follow time frames above

**Notes:**
Option 2 is reporting all of the export information (36 data elements) prior to departure/exportation.  Filers must use this option when exporting used vehicles, exporting shipments under State Department Licenses or DEA permit and when the data is available to send prior to departure.  AES will accept the data 120 days prior to departure.

Option 4 is reporting all of the export information (36 data elements) within 10 calendar days after departure.  Only USPPIs are approved for this option because it is their merchandise being exported.  The approval process takes about 30 days.  The USPPI sends Census a letter of intent; Census retains the original; Census distributes a copy to OFAC, BIS and Customs.  All four agencies review the data on the letter of intent to ensure the company is compliant with their regulations.  If any violations or problems found the company is denied.  If no problems are found, the company is approved for Option 4.

Refer to Letter of Intent Outline in book or via the website.

## Mandatory Fields In AES

- USPPI and USPPI ID
- Name
- Address
- Contact Information

## Mandatory Fields Cont’d

- Date of Export
- Ultimate Consignee
- U.S. State of Origin
- Country of Ultimate Destination
- Mode of Transportation
- Conveyance Name/Carrier Name
- Carrier Identification

## Mandatory Fields Cont’d

- Port of Export
- Related Company Indicator
- Domestic or Foreign Indicator
- Commodity Description

## Mandatory Fields Cont’d

- Shipping Weight
- Value
- Export Information Code
- Shipment Reference Number
- Line Number
- Hazardous Material Indicator

## Mandatory Fields Cont’d

- License Type
- Routed Export Transaction Indicator
- Shipment Filing Action Request Indicator
- Line Item Filing Action Request Indicator
- Filing Option Indicator

## AES Generated Responses

- Accepted AES Shipments (ITNs Returned)
- Shipment Added,  Shipment Cancelled, Shipment Replaced, or Shipment Changed
- Verify Responses
- Compliance Alerts
- Warning Response
- Must correct warning within 4 days
- Rejected AES Shipments (ITNs _not_ Returned)
- Fatal Responses
- Correct Shipment and re-submit prior to exportation

## AES Progress Reports

- Progress Reports are sent monthly
- Each report is preceded by a compliance letter
- Each filer is provided the number of shipments and shipment errors over the last 3 months
- Census calculates the monthly error rate

**Notes:**
When companies transmit their shipment to AES, the system always responds to the filer.  Unless maintenance is being performed on AES, the response time should be within 15 minutes.  94 percent of the time, AES will respond with "SHIPMENT ACCEPTED AS TRANSMITTED" meaning that no errors were found on the shipment.  When AES accepts a shipment it also generates an Internal Transaction Number (ITN) back to the filer.  The format of the ITN is XYYYYMMDD######.  The ITN gives the date the shipment was accepted and a 6 position sequential number.  For example, if a shipment were accepted at 12:00 a.m. on January 23, the ITN would read X20040123000001.  The other 6 percent are categorized into 3 types of errors.  They are verify messages, warning messages and fatal error messages.

The Fatal Error is the most severe.  During certification, AES support personnel make sure filer's software cannot produce fatal errors.  Shipments with fatal errors are not accepted by AES and an ITN is not generated.  They occur when a mandatory element is missing or invalid.  An invalid situation would not be reported a country of destination.  Filer's must correct the fatal error immediately and re-send the shipment.

Warning messages are less severe errors.  In this case, AES accepts the shipment and generates the ITN, but expects the filer to fix the error no later than 4 days after departure.  An example of a warning message is a missing "conveyance name." or missing “commodity description”, etc The carrier or vessel name was missing.  Census tracks the number of warnings or LATE Messages sent by the filer.  Any filer who reports 5 percent or more of their lines with warning errors or late, receives a compliance letter alerting the filer of their poor performance.

Verify messages are generated to the filer because something reported that may not be true.  AES does accept the shipment and generate the ITN even though a verify message is returned.  For example, paper clips that weigh over 300,000 kilograms.  The filer is instructed to verify the data reported and make the correction if found incorrect.

## AES COMPANY
Email:  john.e.export@export.com

Number of Shipments for December 2005:      27,534
Number of Shipments for November 2005: 	30,003
Number of Shipments for October 2005:       	27,349
Change From November 2005 to December 2005:  -8.23%

Shipments in Error for December 2005:       	491
Shipments in Error for November 2005:  	389
Shipments in Error for October 2005:        	465
Error Rate for December 2005:        1.78%

**Email:  john.e.export@export.com**
** **
**Number of Shipments for December 2005:      27,534**
**Number of Shipments for November 2005: ****	****30,003**
**Number of Shipments for October 2005:       ****	****27,349**
**Change From November 2005 to December 2005:  -8.23%**
** **
**Shipments in Error for December 2005:       ****	****491**
**Shipments in Error for November 2005:  ****	****389**
**Shipments in Error for October 2005:        ****	****465**
**Error Rate for December 2005:        1.78%**

**AES Progress Reports -****Sample**

**Notes:**
When companies transmit their shipment to AES, the system always responds to the filer.  Unless maintenance is being performed on AES, the response time should be within 15 minutes.  94 percent of the time, AES will respond with "SHIPMENT ACCEPTED AS TRANSMITTED" meaning that no errors were found on the shipment.  When AES accepts a shipment it also generates an Internal Transaction Number (ITN) back to the filer.  The format of the ITN is XYYYYMMDD######.  The ITN gives the date the shipment was accepted and a 6 position sequential number.  For example, if a shipment were accepted at 12:00 a.m. on January 23, the ITN would read X20040123000001.  The other 6 percent are categorized into 3 types of errors.  They are verify messages, warning messages and fatal error messages.

The Fatal Error is the most severe.  During certification, AES support personnel make sure filer's software cannot produce fatal errors.  Shipments with fatal errors are not accepted by AES and an ITN is not generated.  They occur when a mandatory element is missing or invalid.  An invalid situation would not be reported a country of destination.  Filer's must correct the fatal error immediately and re-send the shipment.

Warning messages are less severe errors.  In this case, AES accepts the shipment and generates the ITN, but expects the filer to fix the error no later than 4 days after departure.  An example of a warning message is a missing "conveyance name." or missing “commodity description”, etc The carrier or vessel name was missing.  Census tracks the number of warnings or LATE Messages sent by the filer.  Any filer who reports 5 percent or more of their lines with warning errors or late, receives a compliance letter alerting the filer of their poor performance.

Verify messages are generated to the filer because something reported that may not be true.  AES does accept the shipment and generate the ITN even though a verify message is returned.  For example, paper clips that weigh over 300,000 kilograms.  The filer is instructed to verify the data reported and make the correction if found incorrect.

## AES Detail Error Report for December 2005

	AES Error Messages	Count		Percent
 	700 Ship Late, OPT 2           	  400                  85.3
     701 Ship Late, OPT 4              91                   14.7  

**	**
**	**_**AES Error Messages**_**	**_**Count**_**	****	**_**Percent**_
** ****	****700 Ship Late, OPT 2           ****	****  400                  85.3**
**     ****701 Ship Late, OPT 4              91                   14.7  **

**AES Progress Reports -****Sample**

**Notes:**
When companies transmit their shipment to AES, the system always responds to the filer.  Unless maintenance is being performed on AES, the response time should be within 15 minutes.  94 percent of the time, AES will respond with "SHIPMENT ACCEPTED AS TRANSMITTED" meaning that no errors were found on the shipment.  When AES accepts a shipment it also generates an Internal Transaction Number (ITN) back to the filer.  The format of the ITN is XYYYYMMDD######.  The ITN gives the date the shipment was accepted and a 6 position sequential number.  For example, if a shipment were accepted at 12:00 a.m. on January 23, the ITN would read X20040123000001.  The other 6 percent are categorized into 3 types of errors.  They are verify messages, warning messages and fatal error messages.

The Fatal Error is the most severe.  During certification, AES support personnel make sure filer's software cannot produce fatal errors.  Shipments with fatal errors are not accepted by AES and an ITN is not generated.  They occur when a mandatory element is missing or invalid.  An invalid situation would not be reported a country of destination.  Filer's must correct the fatal error immediately and re-send the shipment.

Warning messages are less severe errors.  In this case, AES accepts the shipment and generates the ITN, but expects the filer to fix the error no later than 4 days after departure.  An example of a warning message is a missing "conveyance name." or missing “commodity description”, etc The carrier or vessel name was missing.  Census tracks the number of warnings or LATE Messages sent by the filer.  Any filer who reports 5 percent or more of their lines with warning errors or late, receives a compliance letter alerting the filer of their poor performance.

Verify messages are generated to the filer because something reported that may not be true.  AES does accept the shipment and generate the ITN even though a verify message is returned.  For example, paper clips that weigh over 300,000 kilograms.  The filer is instructed to verify the data reported and make the correction if found incorrect.

## 	AES Verify / Info Messages for December 2005

	AES Info Messages		Count
	8L1					1380
	8H1					788
	8VW				505
	8W1				336
	8QR				209
	8W2				22

**	**_**AES Info Messages**_**	****	**_**Count**_
**	****8L1****	****	****	****	****	****1380**
**	****8H1****	****	****	****	****	****788**
**	****8VW****	****	****	****	****505**
**	****8W1****	****	****	****	****336**
**	****8QR****	****	****	****	****209**
**	****8W2****	****	****	****	****22**

**AES Progress Reports -****Sample**

**Notes:**
When companies transmit their shipment to AES, the system always responds to the filer.  Unless maintenance is being performed on AES, the response time should be within 15 minutes.  94 percent of the time, AES will respond with "SHIPMENT ACCEPTED AS TRANSMITTED" meaning that no errors were found on the shipment.  When AES accepts a shipment it also generates an Internal Transaction Number (ITN) back to the filer.  The format of the ITN is XYYYYMMDD######.  The ITN gives the date the shipment was accepted and a 6 position sequential number.  For example, if a shipment were accepted at 12:00 a.m. on January 23, the ITN would read X20040123000001.  The other 6 percent are categorized into 3 types of errors.  They are verify messages, warning messages and fatal error messages.

The Fatal Error is the most severe.  During certification, AES support personnel make sure filer's software cannot produce fatal errors.  Shipments with fatal errors are not accepted by AES and an ITN is not generated.  They occur when a mandatory element is missing or invalid.  An invalid situation would not be reported a country of destination.  Filer's must correct the fatal error immediately and re-send the shipment.

Warning messages are less severe errors.  In this case, AES accepts the shipment and generates the ITN, but expects the filer to fix the error no later than 4 days after departure.  An example of a warning message is a missing "conveyance name." or missing “commodity description”, etc The carrier or vessel name was missing.  Census tracks the number of warnings or LATE Messages sent by the filer.  Any filer who reports 5 percent or more of their lines with warning errors or late, receives a compliance letter alerting the filer of their poor performance.

Verify messages are generated to the filer because something reported that may not be true.  AES does accept the shipment and generate the ITN even though a verify message is returned.  For example, paper clips that weigh over 300,000 kilograms.  The filer is instructed to verify the data reported and make the correction if found incorrect.

## AESDirect

- Census Bureau’s _FREE_ Internet system for filing the SED with AES
- _[www.aesdirect.gov](http://www.aesdirect.gov/)_
- Pre-departure and Post-departure Filing
- Help Desk 7:00am – 7:00pm EST, 7 days a Week
- On-line help Facility
- Data Security through Encryption and User Authentication

## AESDirect

- How do I get started?
- Register online at _[www.aesdirect.gov](http://www.aesdirect.gov/)_
- Take the online tutorial
- Take the online certification quiz
- Receive email that account has been setup for operation

## AESDirect

- Interactive Filing
- Log on to AES*Direct *from Desktop
- Create, Retrieve, or Cancel Shipments
- Submit Shipment Data to AES*Direct*
- AES*Direct *edits and sends accepted data to AES
- AES returns confirmations (ITNs) via email
- AES*Direct* stores your data in a report screen

## Slide 26

## AESDirect

- AES*PcLink*
- Standalone keying version
- Download software
- _[www.aesdirect.gov](http://www.aesdirect.gov/)_
- Install CD-ROM
- Prepare, Store and Validate SED data locally
- Software uploads data to AES*Direct *for transmission to AES

## AESDirect

- Features of AES*PcLink*
- Spanish language version available
- Party Profile Import/Export capability
- Access to Harmonized Tariff Schedule or Schedule B Codes
- Retrieve confirmations (ITNs) directly from AES*Direct* without relying on email

## For More Information

- FTD Call Center: 1-800-549-0595
- Choose 1 – AES Assistance
- Choose 2 – Commodity Classification Assistance
- Choose 3 – Regulations Assistance
- Fax:
- AES: 		301-457-1159
- Regulations: 	301-457-3765
- Email:
- _[ASKAES@census.gov](mailto:ASKAES@census.gov)_
- _FTDRegs@census.gov_