Do you list the Ultimate Consignee Type as Other/Unknown on your Shipper’s Letter of Instructions (SLI) to your forwarder or in your AES EEI filing? If you do, then you may want to take a second look at why you’re making that choice. If it’s because you simply haven’t taken the time to seek out that information from your ultimate consignee, then you need to be aware that you are also exposing your company to potential penalties and fines for improper filing.
According to the Bureau of Industry & Security, if exporters continue to enter Other/Unknown, it will raise red flags in AES and alert enforcement officials that the exporter is failing to maintain their due diligence requirements for knowing the customer.
Bottom line for exporters: The grace period for proper AES filing ends on October 2–so time is of the essence for correcting this error in your process. You should also make an effort to familiarize yourself with the Know Your Customer Guidance and Red Flag Indicators, if you haven’t already.