The U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau published revisions and amendments to the Foreign Trade Regulations pertaining to Export Electronic Information (“EEI”) filings that are required for exports from the United States. The rule is effective July 18, 2017.
On April 19, 2017, the U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau published revisions and amendments to the Foreign Trade Regulations pertaining to Export Electronic Information ("EEI") filings that are required for exports from the United States. EEI is the electronic equivalent of the export data formerly collected through the Shipper’s Export Declaration. The rule is effective July 18, 2017.
The revisions retain certain definitions found in the EEI regulations, but also make additions and changes to other terms. For example, the Census Bureau received proposals to change/clarify who should be reported as the U.S. Principal Party in Interest ("USPPI"), including definitions of "Export Department" or "Shipping Department." The Census Bureau clarified that the contact information must be a person with knowledge of the shipment instead of a group or department. Therefore, the Census Bureau retained the current definition of USPPI.
The new regulations also clarify that with respect to the Department of State’s International Traffic in Arms Regulations, “license value” is not required for transactions that are covered by a license exemption and language has been added to the related regulation to indicate so.
Additionally, the term "commercial document" has been amended to "commercial loading document" to clarify that the reference includes the bill of lading.
Other miscellaneous exemptions to EEI filing requirements include Country Group E:1, which includes Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria (Terrorist Supporting Countries). In 2016, Cuba was removed from Group E:1 and is now under E:2 (Unilateral Embargo). Countries in Country Group E:2 have been added under Section 30.37(y) and designated shipments are not required to file EEI. However, the Census Bureau has the authority to periodically require the reporting of shipments that are normally exempt from filing.
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