Expansion of Foreign Trade Zone Identifier to 9-characters (Effective May 17, 2022)

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May 11, 2022

Expansion of Foreign Trade Zone Identifier to 9-characters (Effective May 17, 2022)

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published a Federal Register Notice (85 FR 60479) that requires the expansion of the Foreign Trade Zone Identifier from 7 to 9-characters. As a result, the Automated Export System and the Automated Export System Trade Interface Requirements (AESTIR) have been updated to accommodate this change effective May 17, 2022. The AESDirect web application is updated to accept the new 9-character requirement. Software vendors should update their software to send the correct Foreign Trade Zone Identifier. For additional formatting details, please refer to the ANSI X-12: 601 Export Shipment Information or CBP Proprietary Format.

CBP assigns unique identifiers for all FTZ site locations. The length of the alpha-numeric zone identification number (Zone ID number) will be expanded from seven to nine digits to accommodate additional Subzones and sets of General Purpose (GP) Zone Acreage, as well as additional FTZ site locations associated with a Subzone or a set of GP Zone Acreage. The expanded nine-digit Zone ID number will consist of the following, in the listed order:

  • 3 numeric digits representing the FTZ designation;
  • 3 alpha-numeric characters representing, as appropriate, either:
    • the Subzone designation; or,
    • the GP Zone Acreage designation; and
  • 3 alpha-numeric characters representing, as appropriate, either:
    • the Subzone Site designation; or,
    • the GP Site designation.

In order to facilitate this implementation, CBP has amended Response Code 15A in the AESTIR Appendix A.  Until further notice, the Response Code 15A is currently set to ‘INFORMATIONAL’.

Response Code: 15A

Narrative Text: FTZ MUST BE 9 CHARACTERS ALPHANUMERIC

Severity: INFORMATIONAL

Proprietary Record ID/Data Elements: Input SC2 Record/Foreign Trade Zone Identifier

X.12 Segment ID/Data Elements: M1203

Reason: The Foreign Trade Zone Indicator reported on the SC2 record does not have the required format of 3 numeric characters which is a valid zone followed by 6 alphanumeric characters.

Resolution: The Foreign Trade Zone Indicator must be specified in the required format. The first 3 positions must be numeric and represent the general purpose zone. The next 3 positions are alphanumeric and represent the subzone. The last 3 positions are alphanumeric and represent the site. The Foreign Trade Zone Indicator must be left justified with no trailing spaces. Insert zeros when there is no sub zone or site. Report leading zero(s) when the general purpose zone is less than 3 numerics, and when the subzone or site is 1 alphanumeric. Verify the Foreign Trade Zone Indicator, correct the SC2 record and retransmit.

Contact your assigned CBP Client Representative for programming and testing questions.

For general questions regarding AES, contact the U.S. Census Bureau's Trade Data Collection Branch at 1-800-549-0595 (option 1) or askaes@census.gov.

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