New Automated Export System (AES) Fatal Error Response Message

September 13, 2024

To ensure compliance with the Foreign Trade Regulations (FTR), specifically ensuring the Ultimate Consignee Country is not reported as US when the Ultimate Country of Destination is neither US or PR, the Census Bureau is deploying a new Fatal Error Response Message in the AES. The response message will be active in the Certification testing environment on September 16, 2024 and will go into the Production environment on September 30, 2024.

Response Code: 25B

Narrative Text: ULT CONS COUNTRY CANNOT BE US

Severity: FATAL

Reason: The Ultimate Consignee Country cannot be reported as US when the Ultimate Country of Destination is neither US or PR.

Resolution: The Ultimate Consignee Country should be reported as the location where the person, party or designee is located abroad. The AES only allows US as the Ultimate Consignee Country when the Ultimate Country of Destination is the US or PR, which would only apply for shipments between the US and PR. Verify the Ultimate Consignee Country, correct, and retransmit.

For a full listing of AES Response Codes, please visit Appendix A of the Automated Export System Trade Interface Requirements (AESTIR).

If additional clarification is needed on this topic or any other programming or technical matters, please contact the Census Bureau’s Trade Data Collection Branch at (800) 549-0595, Option 1, or by email at emd.askaes@census.gov.

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We serve as the nation’s leading provider of quality data about its people and economy. The Census Bureau is the federal government's largest statistical agency. As the world’s premier statistical agency, we are dedicated to making our nation a better place. Policy-makers, businesses, and the public use our data to make informed decisions.