Two types of personally identifiable information are collected by AESDirect: registration information and Electronic Export Information (EEI). Both types of information are mandatory under the authority of 13 United States Code, Chapter 9 and the Foreign Trade Regulations (FTR), 15 Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R), Part 30.

AESDirect Registration Information:

• 15 C.F.R. 30.5(a) (2) requires all parties wishing to file their EEI through the AESDirect to register, and to do so, they must provide their Employer Identification Number (EIN) or Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number supplied by Dun & Bradstreet; name and address; phone and fax numbers; and e-mail address.
• The purpose of collecting the registration information is to establish your AESDirect account so that you can submit export data to the Automated Export System (AES) as a United States Principal Party In Interest (USPPI) or authorized agent.
• Your failure to supply this information will result in the denial of an AESDirect account and access to the AESDirect system. Other than shipments exempt from the filing requirements, you would not be able to export unless you made alternate arrangements, such as contracting with an authorized agent, to file the required information.

Electronic Export Information:

• 15 C.F.R. 30.2 (a) (1) mandates the electronic filing of all required Shipper’s Export Declaration (SED) information. The specific SED information required is specified in 15 C.F.R. 30.6.
• The purpose of collecting the EEI is to compile the U.S. merchandise trade statistics and to provide information needed for related statistical programs of other agencies. The EEI is also used by other Federal agencies to enforce U.S. export laws and regulations, to evaluate the impact of trade agreements and to monitor compliance with such agreements.
• 15 C.F.R. § 30.6 requires that shipments transmitted to the AES provide mandatory information regarding the parties to the export transaction, who are specified in 15 C.F.R. 30.3. The required information about each party includes their identification number (e.g. EIN or DUNS), name and address of the USPPI, and contact information (e.g. name and telephone number). Your failure to supply this information will result in your not receiving the required proof of filing citation, which you are required to provide to the carrier taking the goods out of the United States. Exporting non-exempt shipments out of the United States without filing the required EEI would place you in violation of U.S. export laws and regulations and could subject you to civil and/or criminal penalties.

Registration and electronic export information contained in this system is subject to all of the published routine uses as identified in COMMERCE/CENSUS-12, the Foreign Trade Statistics Privacy Act System of Records Notice (SORN). Routine uses, which are listed below, describe the ways in which records maintained in the AES may be used, including the categories of users, the purpose of such use, and with whom information may be shared.

Routine Uses of Records Maintained in the System:

1. By Census Bureau staff for use in the compilation of U.S. international trade statistics and related research and analysis, and to provide customer assistance to members of the trade community in areas such as AES filing and interpretation of the Foreign Trade Statistics Regulations and its successor, the Foreign Trade Regulations. Information from this system is matched against information in the Census Bureau’s Business Register to develop data products describing the characteristics of companies that export. However, since this project does not use any Business Register subsets that contain information about individuals, (nor does any subset of the Business Register contain SSNs), no information about individuals is incorporated in the data tabulations that comprise the Exporter Database.
2. By authorized sworn staff of Flagship Customs Services (FCS) for purposes of operating the AESDirect system and providing customer service to AESDirect filers. FCS staff’s access is limited to the information filed through the AESDirect.
3. Provided to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Maritime Administration, Bureau of Economic Analysis, the U.S. Foreign Agricultural Service, the U.S. Federal Reserve Board and other U.S. government agencies, as authorized by a National Interest Determination (NID), for statistical purposes.
4. Provided, with authorization by CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Protection), to Statistics Canada (for imports from Canada only) for statistical purposes only in accordance with the terms of the U.S.—Canada Data Exchange agreement. No name, address or other identifying information is provided beyond an altered version of the importer identifier, so that no actual SSN is provided.
5. Provided to the U.S. Department of Justice (U.S. Attorneys) and U.S. courts, the U.S.Bureau of Industry and Security, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence, the U.S. Maritime Administration, the U.S. Department of State, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, or other government agency, as authorized by NIDs, for purposes of enforcing U.S. export laws and regulations through analysis, investigation and prosecution of violations or other circumstances where the Secretary of Commerce or Census Bureau Director determines that withholding the information would be contrary to the national interest.
6. Provided, with authorization from CBP for import information and as authorized by an NID for export information, to the U.S. Office of Textiles and Apparel to monitor the implementation of textile agreements.
7. Provided, when authorized by NID, to appropriate agencies, entities and persons when (1) the Census Bureau suspects or has confirmed that the security or confidentiality of information in the system of records has been compromised; (2) the Census Bureau has determined that as a result of the suspected or confirmed compromise there is a risk of harm to economic or property interests, identity theft or fraud, or harm to the security or integrity of this system or other systems or programs (whether maintained by the Census Bureau or another agency or entity) that rely upon the compromised information; and (3) the disclosure made to such agencies, entities and persons is reasonably necessary to assist in connection with the Census Bureau’s efforts to respond to the suspected or confirmed compromise and prevent, minimize or remedy such harm.