Commentary: The Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau) is issuing a special program notice to announce to the export community that the Automated Export System (AES) Certification Report was submitted to Congress. The Certification Report verifies the security and successful implementation of the AES, an electronic system for filing Shipper’s Export Declarations (SEDs).    This notice also announces the requirement for the mandatory AES Filing for all items on the CCL and the USML, whether or not a license is required.  This requirement is mandated by Public Law 106-113, Title XII, “Security Assistance,” Subtitle E, “Proliferation Prevention Enhancement Act of 1999”.  This law will require that exporters or their agent’s who are required to file SEDs, file such declarations through the AES with respect to exports of items on the CCL and the USML.  Section 1252 of this law stipulates that the mandatory filing through the AES of all items on the CCL and the USML will take effect 270 days after the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) provide certification to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the House Committee on International Relations that the U.S. Customs Service AES mainframe computer system and the U.S. Census Bureau Internet based AESDirect system are secure and functional systems capable of implementing the provisions of Pub. L. 106-113.  In response to this provision, the Secretaries of Commerce and Treasury and the Director of NIST provided such certification and an AES Certification Report to the appropriate committees of Congress in June 2001 initiating the 270-day countdown. The effective date for the mandatory filing through the AES of all items on the CCL and the USML will be in March 2002.  The exact effective date will be specified in appropriate regulations that will be issued to implement this legislation in the near future.