In an effort to maintain the health and safety of staff, many U.S. Census Bureau employees will be operating remotely via telework. During this time, our call centers and email inboxes will remain open to assist the trade daily. However, we will have limited access to physical mail. For those that are submitting a Voluntary Self-Disclosure (VSD), please send it electronically to the Trade Regulations Branch (TRB) in a password-protected file to emd.askregs@census.gov. Additionally, you can send the request to our secure fax at 301-763-8835. We appreciate your patience and cooperation during this time.

Overview

A voluntary self-disclosure (VSD) is a narrative account with supporting documentation that describes violations or suspected violations of the Foreign Trade Regulations (FTR). A VSD reflects due diligence in detecting, and correcting potential violation(s) when required information was not reported or when incorrect information was provided that violates the FTR.

VSDs must be submitted in writing, on company letterhead, and addressed to:

Chief, Economic Management Division
U.S. Census Bureau
4600 Silver Hill Road, Room 6K064
Suitland, MD 20746 (if sent by courier) or Washington DC 20233 (if sent by USPS)

VSDs should include:

The kind of violation involved, for example, failure to file EEI, failure to correct fatal errors, failure to file timely corrections;
Describe all data that was either not reported or reported incorrectly;
An explanation of when and how the violations occurred;
The complete identities and addresses of all individuals and entities, whether foreign or domestic, involved in the activities giving rise to the violations;
A description of any mitigating factors;
Corrective measures taken; and
ITNs of the missed and/or corrected shipments.

For more information on VSDs, please refer to FTR section 30.74. For questions regarding when a VSD should be made, or regarding a correction for a specific transaction(s), please contact the Trade Regulations Branch on (800) 549-0595, option 3.

Note: Below is a sample VSD letter that can be used as a guide when preparing a complete VSD. Please be mindful that the sample VSD letter contains specific information for a particular scenario. Refer to FTR section 30.74 to ensure all required items are included when submitting a VSD.

Click here to view a VSD sample