First things first—if you file electronic export information (EEI) to the Automated Export System (AES) but have no clue about this “AES Compliance Report” that we’re talking about – CALL US NOW! (Okay, maybe read the blog first, then call, but you get the point –it is important!)

An AES Compliance Report gives you a snapshot of how your company performed in complying with the Foreign Trade Regulations (FTR) [PDF] over the previous three months.

Notice at the top of the AES Compliance Report the date that the report covers. In this example, the report shows a company’s mock information sent in March 2014. We also provide the Compliance Rates and Total Shipments for the last three months of reporting at the top half.

On the second part of the page, we identify the total number of unresolved fatal errors that your company incurred through the date the report was sent and the total number of compliance alerts for the reporting period. The number of fatal errors is a running total and is cumulative through the date the report was sent, whereas compliance alerts are based on the reporting period.

Have you ever received your AES Compliance Report and noticed that a previous month’s percentage has changed? Why is that? As mentioned earlier, AES Compliance Reports give you a snapshot of your company’s compliance for the current month. We say a “snapshot” because compliance is an ongoing effort by your company. If AES data has changed for a shipment you reported last month, you must go in and make that change to your AES record (FTR 30.9 [PDF]). If this change causes other AES errors, your AES compliance rate may be affected negatively. On the other hand, correcting a fatal error will increase your AES compliance rate.

If you are not receiving your AES Compliance Reports or simply have questions about your report, please give us a call at 800-549-0595 option 1. We would love to work with you on improving your export compliance!

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