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permit sharing of confidential export informationwith other federal agencies.Census officials briefed industry representativesof the Trade Support Network atManhattan Beach, Calif., Feb. 27-28, aboutthe turn of events.Jon Kent, Washington representative forthe National Customs Brokers and ForwardersAssociation of America, who was presentat the meeting, couldn’t believe what he washearing and spoke out.“The entire association is up in arms overthis,” Kent said in a telephone interviewafter the TSN meeting. He explained howthe NCBFAA and other trade groups foughthard to preserve post-departure filing in themandatory AES filing rules, and how theindustry is generally uneasy about turningover sensitive commercial information toforeign governments.Many forwarders have already spent timeand money preparing for the mandatory AESfiling rules. “We’re very concerned aboutCustoms holding this hostage,” Kent said.Many shippers are concerned that onceexport information is passed to foreigngovernments what safeguards are in placeto prevent it from getting into the hands ofnational companies.“We understand the need to share informationin the supply chain for security andtrade facilitation,” said Peter Gatti, executivevice president of the National IndustrialTransportationLeague in Arlington,Va. “But what if it Peter Friedmannfalls into the hands Washington counsel,of competitors? That Pacific Coast Councilcould result in an unfairadvantage to U.S. & Freight Forwardersof Customs BrokersAssociation,companies.”Agriculture Ocean“The question isTransportationwhy would the U.S.Coalitiongovernment, whichis already trying tofight a horrendousimbalance of trade,impose new barriersto exports?” saidPeter Friedmann,Washington counselto numerous tradegroups, including thePacific Coast Councilof Customs Brokersand Freight ForwardersAssociation, andthe Agriculture OceanTransportation Coalition.“If DHS hasits way, it will decimatemuch of whatis already a very fragile low-margin exportbusiness.”Friedmann added: “Draconian new barriersto exports, such as restrictive AESregulations, aggressive penalties, eliminationof Option 4, and sharing of proprietarycustomer and pricing information with foreigncountries is misguided in the extreme.That they should be imposed by our owngovernment is absolutely unacceptable.”“The question is why wouldthe U.S. government, whichis already trying to fighta horrendous imbalanceof trade, impose newbarriers to export? If DHShas its way, it will decimatemuch of what alreadyis a very fragile low-marginexport business.”Post Departure. Census began developingAES 10 years ago as a way toeliminate filings of paper shipper’s exportdeclarations. The agency found that 50percent of the paper declarations containederrors. In addition, Census needed a moreefficient way to compile the country’s tradestatistics.Since the mid-1990s, AES has continuedto evolve, adjusting to regulatory nuisancesand meeting the data processing efficienciesrequired by today’s commercial sector. In1999, Census, CBP and the Advisory Committeeon Commercial Operations (COAC)came up with four filing options. Before that,the only options were: Option 1, all paperexport declarations prior to departure; orOption 2, all exportdata in AES prior todeparture.The new Option3 required certainexporters or their forwardersto file 14data elements priorto departure, withfull information tobe filed five dayslater. Option 4 allowedgovernmentapprovedexportersto file all their exportdata 10 calendar daysafter export. Forwarderscould file exportdata under Option 4for approved shippersif they have a power ofattorney. Another bigstep by the agency in1999 was the unveilingof its free Internetlink to the system,AESDirect.Also that year,Congress passed theConsolidated Appropriations Act, requiringCensus to develop regulations for themandatory AES reporting of all shipmentsregulated under the U.S. Munitions List andCommerce Control List. Census publishedthe final rule in July 2003. This rule eliminatedOption 3 filing, causing little stir in theexport industry because very few shippersand forwarders used it.After the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacksAMERICAN SHIPPER: APRIL 2006 29