Agency information collection activities: Outbound manifest and shipper's export declarations; compliance workshops,

Text

---

Federal Register: January 13, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 8)NoticesPage 1994-1995From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

DOCID:fr13ja98-92

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Customs Service

Announcement of Outbound Manifest and Shipper's Export Declarations Compliance Workshops

AGENCY: U.S. Customs Service, Department of Treasury.

ACTION: Notice of workshops.

[Page 1995]SUMMARY: This document notifies members of the trade community of the plans of the Customs Service and the Bureau of the Census to implement significant outreach and educational programs for carriers and exporters shipping by air. These programs are designed to help improve the completeness, timeliness and accuracy of the outbound manifest and the Shipper's Export Declaration (SED) information filedwith Customs. Recent monitoring has indicated that a significant low level of compliance exists. Workshops will be presented by the Customs Service and the Bureau of the Census in various ports of entry during the upcoming months. The locations and times of the individual workshops will be announced by the local ports at a later date.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Request for additional information should be directed to C. Harvey Monk, Jr., Chief, Foreign Trade Division, Bureau of the Census, Room 2104, Federal Building 3, Washington, D.C. 20233-6700, by telephone on (301) 457-2255 or by fax on (301) 457-2645 or John Dagostino, Program Officer for the Air Manifest Program at the U.S. Customs Service, Office of Field Operations, Outbound Process Owner, Room 5.4C, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, DC 20229, by telephone on (202) 927-7653 or at fax on (202) 927-1442.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Customs Service and the Bureau of the Census are customer driven organizations and, as such, seek to notify members of the trade community of the development of plans to implement significant outreach and educational programs designed to improve the completeness, timeliness, and accuracy of the outbound air manifest and SED information. In addition, this notice outlines plans to inform the trade community of their responsibilities related to exports.

The Outbound Process is one of the core business processes of the U.S. Customs Service. This process is designed to facilitate international trade while achieving the highest degree of compliance with U.S. export requirements in order to protect the U.S. national security, economic interest, and the health and safety of the American people.

A recent survey of air carrier manifests showed significant failings by the trade community with respect to reporting requirements of the Customs Service and the Bureau of the Census. Some of the specific problems cited were:

<bullet> Air carriers were not submitting all required SEDs.

<bullet> Exporters were not citing proper SED exemptions.

<bullet> Carriers were not listing all required air waybills on the manifest.

<bullet> Inaccurate or incomplete SED information was submitted by exporters.

These deficiencies hinder Customs in its efforts to detect violations of export laws and also result in inaccurate trade statistics. These statistics, utilized in the computation of the ``Balance of Trade'' and in sensitive trade negotiations, affect the economic well being of every resident of the United States. Therefore, the capture of accurate statistics is critical.

The Customs Service and the Bureau of the Census are planning to hold outbound workshops for air carriers, exporters and freight forwarders who ship in the air environment to instruct them regarding their responsibility to comply with federal export requirements. The agencies anticipate that such workshops will begin in March 1998. These workshops will review problems currently encountered with the reporting data, present general results of the outbound manifest survey, cover specific outbound regulations and requirements, provide an overview of the Outbound Process and provide information on the Automated Export System (AES).

In addition, the workshops will outline the specific actions and programs developed to increase the level of outbound manifest and SED compliance. The Customs Service and the Bureau of the Census will be presenting these workshops in various ports of entry during the upcoming months.

After approximately one-hundred and twenty days from the start of the outbound workshops, the Customs Service and the Bureau of the Census will begin efforts to ensure compliance with federal export regulations, thereby, increasing manifest and SED compliance in the air environment. This will allow the trade community time to review internal document preparation and filing processes, and to implement any necessary changes required to improve compliance.

Dated: January 8, 1998. Peter J. Baish, Outbound Process Owner, U.S. Customs Service.

FR Doc. 98-781Filed1-12-98; 8:45 amBILLING CODE 4820-02-P

---