by David Noah

If your company exports goods valued at more than $2,500 to anywhere other than Canada or goods that require an export license, Foreign Trade Regulations (FTR) require that you file your export information electronically through the Automated Export System (AES). The Census Bureau uses this information to calculate export statistics and shares it with U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) to ensure compliance with U.S. export regulations.

 

In Part 1 of this two-part series of article, I discussed when the FTR requires that you file through AES, how to register for the service at the AESDirect website, and some hints for taking the certification quiz that is required in order to activate your account. In this article I discuss the advantages of using a software program like Shipping Solutions to complete your AES filings.

 

The Advantages of Using Shipping Solutions to File Through AES

 

If your company does very little exporting or if you are satisfied to manually create your export documents and perform your compliance screening responsibilities, it probably makes sense for you to file your SED information through AESDirect by entering the information manually online or by using the free AESPcLink software.

 

If, however, you are looking for a way to file through AES while also reducing the time it takes to complete your export forms and complete your export compliance screenings, Shipping Solutions makes a lot of sense for your company. Shipping Solutions eliminates redundant data entry, which means the information you enter to prepare a commercial invoice or a bill of lading will also be used for your AES filing. Shipping Solutions allows you to create more than a dozen standard export forms in addition to filing your export information through AES.

 

The more advanced version of the software (Shipping Solutions Professional) also lets you use this same information to check the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to help you determine if you need to apply for an export license before you can ship your goods and to check all the parties in your export transaction against the various government Denied Parties lists.

 

Changes to U.S. export regulations have increased penalties for export violations to $250,000 or more per violation and could also include bans on exporting and even jail time. For more information about EAR export regulations and an outline of potential export penalties, check out the Department of Commerce publication, Don't Let This Happen to You.

 

Preparing a Shipment for AES

 

Whether or not you are an experienced exporter, Shipping Solutions makes filling out your export documents and filing through AES fast and easy. Shipping Solutions' EZ Start Tab allows you to enter the information you need for AES and your export forms, and then the software automatically completes the documents and prepares the data for AES.

 

To make the program easy to use, the EZ Start Tab is divided into a number of different screens each focusing on either certain types of information (e.g. Contacts and Product Info) or on specific forms (Invoices, Electronic Export Information for AES, and Packing List). By working your way down the list—skipping those screens or fields you don't need for a particular shipment—you will complete a set of export documents.

 

As a general rule, Shipping Solutions recommends that all users check and complete the pertinent fields on the first five screens: Contacts, Product Detail, Carriers and Ports, Invoices, and EEI. These screens either include information that is required on most of the forms or they represent the basic forms required for exporting, i.e. the invoices and the export information that you are required to file through AES.

 

As you enter the appropriate information in each of the EZ Start's various screens, Shipping Solutions automatically enters the information in the proper fields on the appropriate forms. So while the exporter information appears on most of the export forms, you only have to enter the information once. (For a more detailed explanation of how to use Shipping Solutions to prepare all of your export documents and to perform your compliance screening, you can view a short video on the Shipping Solutions website. This article focuses specifically on the AES feature in Shipping Solutions.)

 

In order to prepare a shipment record for an AES filing, you will need to complete the appropriate fields on the Contacts, Product Detail, Carriers and Ports, and EEI screens. You may not need to enter information into all the data fields available on each of the screens (for example, you don't need to enter the NAFTA information on the Product Detail screen if you aren't preparing a NAFTA Certificate of Origin), but at least some of the data fields will be required.

 

Once you have finished entering your shipping information into the various EZ Start screens, you click on the AES button located on the toolbar at the top of the screen. A new window titled, "Electronic Shipper's Export Document" will open that allows you to review your information before you submit it to AES. If you have not entered information into any of the required data fields, you will see a notice about missing data on this screen. You can then go back to your shipment record and enter this missing information before logging into AES.

 

If none of the required AES data is missing, no notice will appear. At that point, click on the Submit EEI to AES Weblink button on the screen. You will now see the screen change as you move to the AES website. Enter your user name and password in the pop-up box. If you have login problems, go to the AES login help page by clicking on the "AES Login Help" link on the Electronic Shipper’s Export Document screen.

 

After entering your user information, your export information will be validated by the AES system. If any data is missing or incomplete, you will be prompted to modify it. This process will continue until the form is correct.

 

When the validation process has been completed, you will be informed that your form has been successfully submitted. In addition you will receive an email once your AES filing has been accepted by the U.S. Census Bureau. This email will include your internal transaction number or ITN Reference Number. You must include the ITN reference number on certain export documents to notify your freight forwarder, shipping company and U.S. Customs to prove that you filed your export information electronically through AES.

 

Shipping Solutions provides a field called the AES ITN Code or Exemption Statement on the EEI screen where you can enter or paste the ITN Reference Number so it will appear in the appropriate spots on the appropriate forms. You will also need this number to access your AES filing record if you need to make any changes to it after it has been submitted.

 

That's all that is required to use Shipping Solutions to file your export shipments through AES. Depending on how many product line items you have in a particular shipment, it can take as little as five to 10 minutes to prepare a shipment record for AES. In the process you've also entered much of the information required to also create invoices, certificates of origin, bills of lading, and a packing list.

 

You can save even more time in creating your export documents and filing through AES by using the Data Exchange Manager available in the Shipping Solutions Professional version. This Utility allows you to import orders from your company's accounting, order-entry or ERP system and typically eliminates 50% to 75% of the manual data entry.