|
| |
FTSR Letter No. 170
Text Copy
TO: U.S. Customs Service Headquarters, Customs Management Centers,
Port Directors, Foreign Trade Zone Operators, Department of Commerce District
Offices, Freight Forwarders, Exporters, Exporting Carriers, Consolidators, and
All Others Concerned.
- From: U.S. Census Bureau (Census Bureau) and U.S. Customs
Service (Customs)
-
- Subject: Discontinuing Acceptance of Facsimile Copies of Shipper's Export
Declarations (SEDs)
-
-
In October 1996, the Census Bureau and Customs agreed to allow exporting companies the
privilege of sending facsimile copies of SEDs to their exporting carriers. This procedure was
established to facilitate the movement of the required documentation to the port of export and
allow the exporting carrier to meet manifest requirements in a timely manner. We provided
specific instructions that would ensure the size, color, and legibility of the facsimile copies.
Recently, we have identified several problems associated with this procedure. The facsimile
copies of the SEDs are illegible because we are receiving copies that have been transmitted
several times. As a result, our processing cost have increased because of additional resources
required to obtain information for these SEDs.
Therefore, effective 90 days after the date of this notice, we will instruct Customs to no longer
accept facsimile copies of SEDs. The original SEDs must be forwarded to the exporting carrier
prior to exportation and they must be in conformance with the Foreign Trade Statistics
Regulations as stated in Section 30.3 and 30.4.
As an alternative to filing paper, we recommend that you pursue electronic filing through the
Automated Export System (AES) or AESDirect, our free Internet application--you may obtain
information on AES on our website, http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/www or contact the
Automated Export System Branch. Foreign Trade Division, Census Bureau, on 301-457-3539
for further assistance.
C. Harvey Monk,
Jr.
Peter J. Baish
- Chief, Foreign Trade
Division
Director of OUtbound Processing
- U.S. Census
Bureau
U.S. Customs Service
-
|
FTSR 170