LEXIS-NEXIS® Academic Universe-Document

LEXIS-NEXIS® Academic

December 2, 1999, Thursday

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 1

LENGTH: 779 words

HEADLINE: Mandatory electronic filing approved for high-risk goods

BYLINE: BY PAULA L. GREEN

BODY:
The Automated Export System, which U.S. Customs has been trying to convince companies to use to file paperwork electronically, will become mandatory as early as next year for some exporters.

Buried in the omnibus appropriations bill signed this week by President Clinton was a provision making AES mandatory for U.S. exporters of munitions, high-performance computers, certain machine tools and billions of dollars of other goods subject to export control.

The legislation also asks government officials to study whether it's possible to require AES to be used for all commodities, and to report to Congress within six months.

Customs and the Census Bureau have been touting the benefits of AES, which allows shippers and forwarders to electronically file documents such as shipper export declarations. Pressure for the recent congressional action, however, resulted from concern that government controls were inadequate to prevent the export of goods that could be used for military purposes by such countries as Iraq and China.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., introduced legislation last summer to crack down on the spread of deadly weapons by improving the collection and analysis of trade data.

""The legislation was an outgrowth of a bipartisan commission, the Commission on Weapons of Mass Destruction. Sen. Specter was inspired by that, '' said Charles Robbins, a spokesman for Specter. The commission, which wrapped up its work earlier this year, studied proposals to curb the proliferation and export of weapons.

While pleased that Congress has made AES mandatory for some shipments, Customs and Census officials say they were not behind the legislation.

""There was no pressure from any department,'' said C. Harvey Monk Jr., chief of Census' Foreign Trade Division. He said there was concern in Congress about exports of critical technology, ""and an understanding that it's hard to keep track of paper on a long-term basis.''

He said the legislation ""is confirmation that Congress supports our efforts and that the Internet is a viable way of reporting information.''

Monk said Census will join the Treasury Department and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to set a schedule for certifying that the Automated Export System is secure and capable of processing the information.

The three agencies must provide the certification to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House International Relations Committee. The mandatory filing requirement will become effective nine months after the certification is made.

AES allows electronic filing of the shipper export declaration, which includes information such as the description of the commodity, its classification, the value and where it is headed.

The system is designed to reduce the costly paperwork flow for the government, exporters and forwarders, and reduce errors and improve government record-keeping.

The mandatory filing applies to munitions and items on the Commerce control list, such as high-powered computers, some telecommunications equipment and other goods that can be used for commercial and military purposes. Items licensed by the Food and Drug Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are not included.

Monk said Census doesn't maintain separate figures on the value of licensed goods that are exported. But he estimated that all licensed exports - including those not subject to mandatory AES use - make up about 2 percent, or 3,400, of the 1.7 million export transactions filed with Customs each month.

The report will be filed by the secretary of commerce, in consultation with the secretaries of state, defense, treasury and energy, and the director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Some shippers and forwarders said they agree that AES should be mandatory for shipments requiring licenses, but don't want to require it for all shipments.

Larry E. Christensen, chairman of the export committee of the American Association of Exporters and Importers, said he wasn't surprised that Congress approved the legislation, but that he was surprised that small businesses were not excluded.

But he said that small businesses that lack the capability to file documents electronically usually use freight forwarders, most of which could use AES.

Christensen, an executive with Vastera Inc. an international trade software and consulting firm in Dulles, Va., said small businesses may complain if the requirement is expanded to all products.

He said Congress probably wants the feasibility study to determine if it's possible to improve the government's recording of export statistics, such as the trade deficit.

LOAD-DATE: December 2, 1999