Export Record Keeping Requirements. July,

Export Record Keeping Requirements

Presenter

Michael J. Ford – Vice President of BDP International for Regulatory Compliance and Quality

Over 31 years of service with BDP working in both Import and Export operations

Current Member of COAC – Commercial Operations Advisory Committee – to Customs and Border Protection

Past chair of NCITD – National Council on International Trade Development – non-profit trade group base in Washington, DC.

Current member of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Trade Support Network (TSN), Co-Chairs the Export Committee.

Appointed in October 2004 as one of twenty-one National Trade Ambassadors to advise Customs and Border Protection on their new commercial processing system known as the Automated

Commercial Environment (ACE).

Corporate liaison between BDP International and all U.S. Government agencies that have international trade responsibilities.

Basic Record Keeping Requirements

What regulations must be review and

understand for record keeping?

• Census?

• Bureau of Industry and Security ( BIS) ? • Department of State ?

• Customs and Border Protection?

• Any other Government agency that I should know about?

Census

Yes – Census Bureau issues regulations on the filing of

electronic data to the US government for export enforcement and record keeping purposes

while data is electronic – you are required to keep records that support the data that you have sent to your filer of your data, as proof

Best Practice: obtain a copy of your data that has been filed on your behalf, does not need to be 100% of all data elements, know that you may need to obtain full details in case of an audit.

Census Regulations retention and

maintenance

Sec. 30.10 Retention of export information and the authority to require production of documents.

(a) Retention of export information. All parties to the export transaction (owners and operators of export carriers, USPPIs, FPPIs and/or authorized agents) shall retain documents pertaining to the export

shipment for five years from the date of export. USPPI – United States Principle Party of Interest

BIS – Bureau of Industry and Security

( Department of Commerce)

Yes – BIS issues regulations known as the EAR export administration regulations

these regulations apply to most goods that are shipped from the US

BIS issues out a list of records that should be held by the exporter as well as a list of records that need not to be held time period – 5 years from data of export shipment

BIS Regulations

Copies of documents that must be kept

 Ocean / Air way bill of lading

 Commercial Invoice(s)

 Purchase order ( if issued)

 Letter of instructions ( if issued)

 Contracts ( if issued)

 Financial records

BIS Regulations

Records that are not required to be kept under the record keeping regulations

 Export information page

 Special export file list

 Vessel log from freight forwarder

 Inspection certificate

 Warranty certificate

 Guarantee certificate

 Packing material certificate

BIS Regulation

• In the Export Administration Regulations part 762 will describe what records need to be retained for

Exporters and Freight Forwarders

762.4 ORIGINAL RECORDS REQUIRED

• The regulated person must maintain the original

records in the form in which that person receives or creates them unless that person meets all of the

conditions of §762.5 of this part relating to reproduction of records.

BIS Regulation

762.5 REPRODUCTION OF ORIGINAL RECORDS

(a) The regulated person may maintain reproductions instead of the original records provided all of the requirements of paragraph (b) of this section are met.

(b) In order to maintain the records required by

Requirements applicable to systems based on the storage of digital images

For systems based on the storage of digital images,

 The system must provide accessibility to any digital image in the system.

 With respect to records of transactions, including those involving restrictive trade practices or boycott requirements or requests.

 The system must be able to locate and reproduce all records relating to a particular transaction

Department of State

Yes – only if your goods fall under the ITAR

(International Traffic of Arms Regulations) issued

by the Department of State – mostly military goods

Regulations state that shipping documents as well

as license that was issued must be held by the

exporters

Time period – five years after the expiration of the

license ( which could be 7 plus years or forever ?)

Department of State

• All records must be maintained for a period of five years from the expiration of the license or other approval, to include exports using an exemption (§ 123.26 of this subchapter); or, from the date of the transaction (e.g. expired licenses or other

approvals relevant to the export transaction using an exemption).

• The Managing Director, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, and the Director of the Office of Defense

Trade Controls Licensing, may prescribe a longer or shorter period in individual cases.

Customs and Border Protection

No – CBP does not issue record keeping regulations for exports

CBP is a law enforcement agency and enforces other government regulations

• CBP does issue regulations for Importing goods

• CBP does issue regulations for Carriers manifest data

• CBP does issue regulations for Drawback services

Any other Government agency do I

need to pay attention?

• Generally your record keeping policy and procedure should fall into Census / BIS unless you have goods that you export that fall under a specific government agency outside of the ones that are named, like

Nuclear Regulatory Commission or Fish and Wildlife

• Know your product and which government agency

has jurisdiction of your goods, then look to the regulations

Issues to avoid in record keeping

• All of my records are kept by my Forwarder!

• If I need a copy of my document I just call my forwarder, they take care of me!

• They know the international requirements better than I do!

• Keeping records beyond the stated time period by regulation or your own company policy

• Many programs are very good at documenting the

transaction prior to shipping and fail to complete the process when goods leave the international ship

Best Practices for Record keeping

• Have a program that is documented within your firm

• Ensure that all service providers clearly understand your policies for record keeping

• Many programs need the ability accept documents later in the shipping process and be combined with earlier documents

• Have a good system to link the service provider

number or the US government number with your PO number or transactional number

• Ability to access your order from multiple lead

Best Practices

• Be able to accept all changes to the transaction

• Change can occur after shipment has left your facility and updated file can be filed

• Be alert to all “routed orders” filing of data as well as the detail records that you keep

• Ensure that you understand what documents / information is required for transactional record-keeping

• Ensure that you also set up a procedures that keep records for non-transactional work ( I.E. Power of Attorney, control manuals)

Be Careful

Destruction or disposal of records

• If the Bureau of Industry and Security or any other government agency makes a formal or informal request for a certain record or records,

• Such record or records may not be destroyed or disposed of without the written authorization of the agency concerned.

Contact information

Phone: 215-629-8924 Mobile: 215-620-5568

Email :

510 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19106

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