Census Prohibits Reuse of AES Shipment Reference Numbers
The Census Bureau has issued a memorandum to certain government agencies and members of the trade1 stating that reuse of the shipment reference number reported in the Automated Export System (AES) is prohibited.
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Once the number has been assigned by the filer, the filer cannot assign that same shipment reference number to future shipments. Census states that every effort must be made by the U.S. Principal Parties in Interest (USPPI) and authorized agents to comply with this requirement.
AES System is Not Configured for Reuse of Numbers After Five Years
As specified in the Foreign Trade Regulations, the AES shipment reference number is a unique identification number assigned by the filer that allows for the identification of the shipment in the filer's system and must be unique for five years.
Census states that recently, AES filers attempted to reuse the shipment reference numbers following the five year period. An analysis of AES revealed that the system was not configured to allow the reuse of the numbers, and a complete redesign of the system would be required to add this capability.
1Specifically, the memorandum is issued to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Directors of Field Operations, port directors, foreign trade zone operators, Commerce Department district offices; USPPIs, freight forwarders, exporting carriers, consolidators, customs brokers, and all others concerned.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 09/05/08, 06/05/08 and 06/19/08 news, 08090515, 08060515, and 08061915, for BP summaries of Census' final rule on mandatory AES. See ITT's Online Archives or 10/03/08 news, for BP summary on CBP's extension of the informed compliance for Census' mandatory AES rule until penalty mitigation guidelines issued.)
Census memorandum (dated 09/26/08) available at http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/regulations/ftrletters/ftrno2-reuse-of-srn.pdf
AES broadcast on the memorandum (2008047, dated 09/29/08) available at http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/aes/documentlibrary/broadcasts/2008047.html