The Automated Export System (AES) is the information system for collecting Electronic Export Information (EEI) from persons exporting goods from the United States, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands; between Puerto Rico and the United States; and to the U.S. Virgin Islands from the United States or Puerto Rico. Pursuant to the Census Bureau's Foreign Trade Regulations (FTR), all commodity export information for which EEI is required must be filed through the AES. This system is the CBP-approved electronic data interchange system used for purposes of filing EEI as required by § 192.14. AES is also the system by which certain sea carriers may report required outbound vessel information electronically (see, §§ 4.63, 4.75, and 4.76 of this chapter). Eligibility and application procedures are found in the General Requirements section of the FTR, codified at 15 CFR part 30, subpart A. The Census Bureau's FTR (15 CFR part 30, subpart A) provides that exporters may choose to submit export information through AES by any one of three electronic filing options available. Only Option 4, the complete post-departure submission of export information, requires prior approval by participating agencies before it can be used by AES participants.

(a) Approval process. Applications for the option of filing export commodity information electronically through AES after the vessel has departed (Option 4 filing status) must be unanimously approved by Customs, Census and other participating government agencies. Disapproval by one of the participating agencies will cause rejection of the application.

(b) Grounds for denial. Customs may deny a participant's application for any of the following reasons:

(1) The applicant is not an exporter, as defined in the Census Regulations (15 CFR 30.7(d));

(2) The applicant has a history of non-compliance with export regulations (e.g., exporter has a history of late electronic submission of commodity records or a record of non-submission of required export documentation);

(3) The applicant has been indicted, convicted, or is currently under an investigation, wherein Customs has developed probable cause, for a felony involving any Customs law or any export law administered by another government agency; or

(4) The applicant has made or caused to be made in the “Letter of Intent”, a false or misleading statement or omission with respect to any material fact.

(c) Notice of denial; appeal procedures. Applicants will be notified of approval or denial in writing by Census. (Applicants whose applications are denied by other agencies must contact those agencies for their specific appeal procedures.) Applicants whose applications are denied by Customs will be provided with the specific reason(s) for non-selection. Applicants may challenge Customs decision by following the appeal procedure provided at § 192.13(b).

(a) Reasons for revocation. Customs may revoke Option 4 privileges of participants for the following reasons:

(1) The exporter has made or caused to be made in the “Letter of Intent”, a false or misleading statement or omission with respect to any material fact;

(2) The exporter submitting the “Letter of Intent” is indicted, convicted, or is currently under an investigation, wherein Customs has developed probable cause, for a felony involving any Customs law or any export law administered by another government agency;

(3) The exporter fails to substantially comply with export regulations; or

(4) Continued participation in AES as an Option 4 filer would pose a threat to national security, such that continued participation in Option 4 should be terminated.

(b) Notice of revocation; appeal procedures. When Customs has decided to revoke a participant's Option 4 filing privileges, the participant will be notified in writing of the reason(s) for the decision. The participant may challenge Customs decision by filing an appeal within thirty (30) calendar days of receipt of the notice of decision. Except as stated elsewhere in this paragraph, the revocation will become effective when the participant has either exhausted all appeal proceedings or thirty (30) calendar days after receipt of the notice of revocation if no appeal is filed. However, in cases of intentional violations of any Customs law on the part of the program participant or when required by the national security, revocations will become effective immediately upon notification. Appeals should be addressed to the Director, Outbound Programs, U.S. Customs, Ronald Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Room 5.4c, Washington, DC 20229. Customs will issue a written decision or notice of extension to the participant within thirty (30) calendar days of receipt of the appeal. If a notice of extension is forwarded, the applicant will be provided with the reason(s) for extension of this time period and an expected date of decision. Participants who have had their Option 4 filing privileges revoked and applicants not selected to participate in Option 4 of AES may not reapply for this filing status for one year following written notification of rejection or revocation.

(a) General requirement. Pursuant to section 343(a), Trade Act of 2002, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2071 note), for any commercial cargo that is to be exported from the United States by vessel, aircraft, rail, or truck, unless exempted under paragraph (d) of this section, the U.S. Principal Party in Interest (USPPI), the USPPI's authorized agent, or the authorized filing agent of the Foreign Principal Party in Interest (FPPI) must electronically transmit for receipt by CBP, no later than the time period specified in paragraph (b) of this section, certain Electronic Export Information (EEI), as enumerated in paragraph (c) of this section. Specifically, to effect the advance electronic transmission of the required cargo information to CBP, the USPPI, the USPPI's authorized agent, or the FPPI's authorized filing agent must use a CBP-approved electronic data interchange system (currently, the Automated Export System (AES)).

(b) Transmission of data—(1) Time for transmission of EEI. The USPPI, the USPPI's authorized agent, or the FPPI's authorized filing agent must electronically transmit the EEI required by § 30.6 of the Census Bureau's FTR (15 CFR 30.6) and have received the AES Internal Transaction Number (ITN) (see paragraph (b)(3) of this section) for outbound cargo no later than the time period specified as follows:

(i) For vessel cargo, the USPPI, the USPPI's authorized agent, or the FPPI's authorized filing agent must provide the EEI filing citation (the ITN), exclusion, and/or exemption legend to the exporting carrier no later than 24 hours prior to loading cargo on the vessel at the U.S. port of lading;

(ii) For air cargo, including cargo being transported by air express couriers, the USPPI, the USPPI's authorized agent, or the FPPI's authorized filing agent must provide the EEI filing citation (the ITN), exclusion, and/or exemption legend to the exporting carrier no later than 2 hours prior to the scheduled departure time of the aircraft from the U.S. port of export;

(iii) For truck cargo, including cargo departing by express consignment courier, the USPPI, the USPPI's authorized agent, or the FPPI's authorized filing agent must provide the EEI filing citation (the ITN), exclusion, and/or exemption legend to the exporting carrier no later than 1 hour prior to the arrival of the truck at the border;

(iv) For rail cargo, the USPPI, the USPPI's authorized agent, or the FPPI's authorized filing agent must provide the EEI filing citation (the ITN), exclusion, and/or exemption legend to the exporting carrier no later than 2 hours prior to the arrival of the train at the border;

(v) For shipments of used self-propelled vehicles as defined in § 192.1, the USPPI's authorized agent, or the FPPI's authorized filing agent must provide the EEI filing citation (the ITN), exclusion, and/or exemption legend to the exporting carrier at least 72 hours prior to export; and

(vi) For cargo shipped by pipeline, the USPPI, the USPPI's authorized agent, or the FPPI's authorized filing agent should refer to § 30.4 of the Census Bureau's FTR (15 CFR 30.4, 30.46) for applicable time frames for the transmission of EEI.

(2) Applicability of time frames. The time periods in paragraph (b)(1) of this section for reporting required EEI to CBP for outward vessel, air, truck, or rail cargo only apply to shipments without an export license, license exemption, or license exception that require full predeparture reporting of shipment data, in order to comply with the advance cargo information filing requirements under section 343(a), Trade Act of 2002, as amended. Requirements placed on exports controlled by other government agencies will remain in force unless changed by the agency having the regulatory authority to do so. CBP will also continue to require 72-hour advance notice for used vehicle exports pursuant to § 192.2(c)(1) and (c)(2)(i). The USPPI, the USPPI's authorized agent, or the FPPI's authorized filing agent should refer to the relevant titles of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) for pre-filing requirements of other government agencies. In particular, for the advance reporting requirements for exports of U.S. Munitions List items, see the U.S. Department of State's International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) (22 CFR parts 120 through 130).

(3) System verification of data acceptance or rejection. Once the USPPI, the USPPI's authorized agent, or the FPPI's authorized filing agent has transmitted the EEI required under paragraphs (c)(1) and (c)(2) of this section, and AES has received and accepted this data, AES will generate and transmit to the party that filed the EEI a confirmation number, the Internal Transaction Number (ITN), assigned to that shipment confirming acceptance of the EEI transmission. When the submission is not accepted, a rejection message will be transmitted to the filer.

(c) EEI required—(1) Commodity data. The commodity data elements that are required to be reported electronically through the approved system are found in § 30.6 of the Census Bureau's FTR (15 CFR 30.6).

(2) Transportation data. The following transportation data elements are also required to be reported electronically through the approved system. These data elements are also found in § 30.6 of the Census Bureau's FTR (30 CFR 30.6):

(i) Method of transportation (the method of transportation is defined as that by which the goods are exported or shipped (vessel, air, rail, or truck));

(ii) Carrier identification (for vessel, rail and truck shipments, the unique carrier identifier is the 4-character Standard Carrier Alpha Code (SCAC); for aircraft, the carrier identifier is the 2- or 3-character International Air Transport Association (IATA) code);

(iii) Conveyance name (the conveyance name is the name of the carrier; for sea carriers, this is the name of the vessel; for others, the carrier name);

(iv) Country of ultimate destination (this is the country as known to the USPPI, the USPPI's authorized agent, or the FPPI's authorized filing agent at the time of exportation, where the cargo is to be consumed or further processed or manufactured; this country would be identified by the 2-character International Standards Organization (ISO) code for the country of ultimate destination);

(v) Date of export (the USPPI, the USPPI's authorized agent, or the FPPI's authorized filing agent must report the date the cargo is scheduled to leave the United States for all modes of transportation; if the actual date is not known, the USPPI, the USPPI's authorized agent, or the FPPI's authorized filing agent must report the best estimate as to the time of departure); and

(vi) Port of export (the port where the outbound cargo departs from the United States is designated by its unique code, as set forth in Annex C, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS); the USPPI, the USPPI's authorized agent, or the FPPI's authorized filing agent must report the port of exportation as known when the USPPI, USPPI's authorized agent, or the FPPI's authorized filing agent tenders the cargo to the outbound carrier; should the carrier export the cargo from a different port and the carrier so informs the USPPI, the USPPI's authorized agent, or the FPPI's authorized filing agent, the port of exportation must be corrected by the filer in AES.).

(3) Proof of electronic filing; exemption from filing. The USPPI, the USPPI's authorized agent, or the FPPI's authorized filing agent must furnish to the exporting carrier a proof of EEI filing citation (the ITN), post-departure filing citation, AES downtime filing citation (when allowed), and the exclusion, and/or exemption legends (see paragraph (d) of this section) for annotation on the carrier's outward manifest, waybill, or other export documentation covering the cargo to be shipped. The proof of EEI filing citation (the ITN), post-departure filing citation, AES downtime filing citation, exclusion, and/or exemption legend must conform to the approved EEI filing citation, exclusion, and/or exemption legend formats in Appendix B to the Census Bureau's FTR (15 CFR part 30, Appendix B).

(4) Carrier responsibility—(i) Loading of cargo. The carrier may not load cargo without first receiving from the USPPI, the USPPI's authorized agent, or the FPPI's authorized filing agent either the related electronic filing citation as prescribed under paragraph (c)(3) of this section, or an appropriate exemption legend for the cargo as specified in paragraph (d) of this section.

(ii) High-risk cargo. For cargo that CBP has identified as potentially high-risk, the carrier, after being duly notified by CBP, will be responsible for delivering the cargo for inspection/examination. When cargo identified as high risk has already been exported, CBP may demand that the export carrier redeliver the cargo in accordance with the terms of its international carrier bond (see § 113.64(m)(2) of this chapter).

(5) USPPI receipt of information believed to be accurate. When the USPPI, the USPPI's authorized agent, or the FPPI's authorized filing agent electronically presenting the cargo information required in paragraphs (c)(1) and (c)(2) of this section receives any of this information from another party, CBP will take into consideration how, in accordance with ordinary commercial practices, the USPPI, the USPPI's authorized agent, or the FPPI's authorized filing agent acquired this information, and whether and how the USPPI, the USPPI's authorized agent, or the FPPI's authorized filing agent is able to verify this information. When the USPPI, the USPPI's authorized agent, or the FPPI's authorized filing agent is not reasonably able to verify any information received, CBP will permit this party to electronically present the information on the basis of what it reasonably believes to be true.

(d) Exemptions from reporting; Census exemptions or exclusions applicable. The USPPI, the USPPI's authorized agent, or the FPPI's authorized filing agent must furnish to the outbound carrier an appropriate exemption or exclusion legend for any export shipment laden that is not subject to predeparture electronic information filing under this section. The exemption or exclusion legend must conform to the proper format approved by the Census Bureau (see 15 CFR part 30, Appendix B). Any exemptions or exclusions from reporting requirements for export cargo are enumerated in §§ 30.2 and 30.35 through 30.40 of the Census Bureau's FTR (15 CFR 30.2 and 30.35 through 30.40). These exemptions or exclusions under §§ 30.2 and 30.35 through 30.40 of the Census Bureau's FTR are equally applicable under this section.