The Bureau of Industry & Security's annual Update Conference wrapped up last week in DC, where government officials and industry leaders learned and exchanged ideas about export control issues. Attendees discussed hot topics such as trans-shipments, national security, end user errors and enforcement, and the ZTE penalty - the largest ever assessed.

Despite attempts by the U.S. government to streamline export regulation and stoke growth of exported goods, it remains a tricky and evolving process. This year’s American Shipper report takes a deeper look at how exporters are managing their export documentation in the wake of the latest AES deadlines last year. 

This report, co-produced with BPE Global and AAEI, also examines the level of involvement export practitioners have in strategic areas like new markets and mergers and acquisitions, as well as their path to invest in technology solutions designed to make the export compliance process more efficient.

Key themes include:

• The role of compliance and operations personnel in strategic export decisions
• Organizational structures and responsibilities
• How shippers file their EEIs
• Whether investment is available to invest in export technology
• How system delivery model choices are changing

Earlier this month, Amber Road attended the U.S. Customs and Border Protection East Coast Trade Symposium in Washington, DC. The CBP always puts on a wonderfully informative conference, so it was no surprise that we came back with some great takeaways from this year’s event.

• ACE, or Automated Commercial Environment, was the biggest discussion point at the Symposium, demanding a first-day speech on the topic and a packed workshop the next day. You can find the presentation on ACE Deployment here.
• AES (Automated Export System), the legacy system that used to handle automated exports, is being decommissioned by the end of 2014. As with any big transition (export control reform, anyone?) companies will want a partner in automation to weather the changes in filing

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) recently released a new set of best practices that are aimed at helping exporters, re-exporters and freight forwarders guard against the diversion of dual use items shipped to a transshipment hub. While transshipments are a growing part of international trade and offer many benefits, they can be used illegally to either disguise the final destination or divert trade to unauthorized end users.