AES Broadcast  08/07/2008          Broadcast  #  2008028

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 Automated Export System (AES) Maintenance Outages

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The AES Education and Production Regions will undergo an extended 
outage for 12 hours beginning at 11:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST) 
Saturday, August 23, 2008. The regions will be restored by 
11:00 AM EST Sunday, August 24, 2008.
         
During these outages, incoming AES shipments will be stored in a queue 
and once the regions are restored processing will continue and messages 
will be returned to the filers.  We strongly encourage you to file your 
shipments prior to these extended outages when possible.
         
The AES Development Team will be updating the software supporting the 
AES application.  This is to be in compliance with industry standards.
         
AES Filers may submit shipments under the AES Downtime Policy during 
the AES outage.  State Department licensable shipments cannot use the 
downtime policy and must be held until the system is restored and an 
AES Internal Transaction Number (ITN) is received.  Once the AES is 
restored all AES transactions for shipments that moved under the AES 
Downtime Policy must be filed along with any new AES transactions.
         
If you utilize the AES Downtime Policy for export, please contact the 
port where you will export from.
         
Please see the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Website for 
further information on the AES Downtime Policy:

http://www.customs.gov/linkhandler/cgov/trade/automated/aes/tech_docs/aestir/june04_intro/june04_downtime_guide.ctt/june04_downtime_guide.doc

For further information or questions, contact the U.S. Census Bureau's 
AES Branch at 1-800-549-0595, menu option 1 or at askaes@census.gov.