United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office National Security and International Affairs Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1997-11-14 monographic deposited born digital 85 p. GA 1.13:NSIAD-98-5 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-98-5 P0b002ee1803a2e4d f:ns98005 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-29 GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-98-5 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-98-5 NSIAD-98-5 International trade Statistical data Data collection Interagency relations Export regulation Customs administration Data integrity ADP Law enforcement information systems Customs Service Automated Export System Letter Report NSIAD Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the potential impact of the the Customs Service's Automated Export System (AES) and the views of the export community regarding AES, focusing on whether AES is likely to achieve its objectives of improving export data, enhancing enforcement efforts, and streamlining export data collection.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) it is not yet clear what benefits will result from the use of AES because many critical implementation issues remain unsolved; (2) although AES has the potential to improve export reporting and enhance enforcement efforts, it is unlikely to achieve these objectives unless more exporters are willing to participate and limitations that prevent other agencies from fully using the system are resolved; (3) concerning the trade community's limited participation, GAO found that: (a) only a small fraction of the export community is using AES; (b) most exporting companies responding to GAO's survey are not likely to use AES over the next 3 years; and (c) twenty-five percent of all U.S. ocean freight forwarders had not heard of AES; (4) benefits cited by companies using AES include automated filing, reduced paperwork, personnel, and administrative costs, participating in the initial development of AES, and filing all data at a central filing point; (5) some segments of the trade community contend that the predeparture filing requirement is inconsistent with their business practices and costly; (6) AES is designed to help target illegal shipments, identify high-risk shipments, and compile exporter histories; (7) the system's usefulness as an enforcement tool is limited because: (a) it is not linked with the databases of other law enforcement agencies; (b) a proposal to allow exporters to file data after shipment could undermine efforts to detect export violations; (c) AES allows export data to be transmitted only hours before a shipment departure, which may not provide sufficient time to target possible illegal shipments; and (d) many Customs inspectors anticipate that illegal exporters are unlikely to use AES to file their export data; (8) AES faces limitations in achieving its goal to create a single information collection and processing center for the electronic filing of required export documentation; (9) many export-related agencies are subject to existing regulations requiring them to retain their own licensing procedures and have requirements that will not be satisfied through AES; (10) Customs is attempting to resolve these issues through several means; and (11) a cost-benefit analysis is needed to determine how or whether to proceed with implementation of AES. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-98-5/html/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-98-5.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-98-5/pdf/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-98-5.pdf GAO/NSIAD-98-5 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-98-5 Letter Report GAO/NSIAD-98-5; Automated Export System: Prospects for Improving Data Collection and Enforcement Are Uncertain; International trade Statistical data Data collection Interagency relations Export regulation Customs administration Data integrity ADP Law enforcement information systems Customs Service Automated Export System