[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 8 (Tuesday, January 13, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1994-1995]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-781]


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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.

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[[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 filed with 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:
     Air carriers were not submitting all required SEDs.
     Exporters were not citing proper SED exemptions.
     Carriers were not listing all required air waybills on the 
manifest.
     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. 98-781 Filed 1-12-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4820-02-P