Have you noticed all the articles in the press about increased enforcement by Federal law enforcement in carefully scrutinizing export air shipments to foreign destinations? Some articles revealed that air carriers were exporting weapons without the necessary export licenses, exporting merchandise of various kinds whose ultimate destination is a country with which the United States has an embargo, exporting shipments of unmarked or improperly marked hazardous materials, or exporting merchandise which was incorrectly described on a Shipper's Export Declaration (SED). This is a radical change from the common intensive examinations by Customs Inspectors on the Contraband Enforcement Team (CET) looking for drugs concealed within inbound air cargo. More attention to exports means the inevitable result is often civil penalties, seizures, liquidated damage claims by Customs, plus the ominous criminal prosecution by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The increased interest by law enforcement of international air exports is intentional. Changes in Federal laws have caused a change in law enforcement priorities among the concerned agencies. The U.S. Customs Service remains the principal law enforcement agency charged with enforcement of U.S. international trade at the border, but the Office of Enforcement of the Bureau of Export Administration (BXA) within the Commerce Department, and the Office of Defense Trade Controls (ODTC) within the State Department, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) within the Treasury Department, plus the FBI and FAA all have a significant role in investigating, arresting, and prosecuting civil and criminal cases in which exporters, warehousmen, truckers, freight forwarders, and air carriers are all potential targets. A year ago, OFAC, which enforces all of the trade embargoes, opened an office in Miami. BXA has an active office staffed with a dozen Special Agents in Ft. Lauderdale, which also covers Miami. Customs has created a team of Customs Inspectors to focus on export air cargo, and a group of Customs Special Agent is also focused on air cargo. SEDs, whether filed in paper or electronically, cargo manifests, and air waybills are being scrutinized more carefully, and more examinations of cargo itself are now frequently taking place on exports, not only imports.

Recently, for example, the FAA issued a notice of proposed civil penalty in the amount of $220,000 against a large company for its alleged violations of the Dept. of Transportation Hazardous Material Regulations. The FAA alleged that on Nov. 6, 1998, the shipper offered a shipment of hazardous materials to an air carrier for transportation by air from Chicago O'Hare International Airport. The shipment consisted of a single Styrofoam cooler which did not bear any orientation or identification markings or labels. The shipment was not accompanied by a Shipper's Certification or Declaration of Dangerous Goods. On or about Nov. 6-7, 1998, the shipment was flown on a regularly scheduled cargo flight from O'Hare to the carrier's sorting facility where the carrier's employees noticed the packaging had failed and exhibited stains or spills. Upon opening the container, the carrier's employees found six (6) 500-ml clear glass bottles of Acetic Acid Glacial, a hazardous material under the Department of Transportation Hazardous Materials Regulations. Further investigation revealed that one of the bottles had broken and had leaked its contents through the container.

In a worst case scenario, an exporter (using a fictitious company name and address) attempts to export "weapons of mass destruction" from the United States to a country such as Iraq, an embargoed country. All of the usual export documents are forged and completely false regarding description of commodity, value, consignee, ultimate destination, etc. Within dozens of cartons of merchandise described as "electronic parts", it is certainly conceivable that a few unremarkable items are concealed, yet those same items are parts to a nuclear bomb or part of a top-secret guidance system for a 'smart' missile. Without careful examination by a Customs officers or the carrier itself, there is no special export license to review, and no apparent paperwork trail. Only when a bombing occurs on a U.S. embassy overseas, and a determination is made that the bombs were composed of American parts does the search begin. By then, of course, the trail is cold, and the investigation is soon abandoned.

So now you know why Customs officers are showing up more often to review export documents and examine export cargo. In the near future, expect specialized X-ray equipment to be used by Customs at all major international air points of departure to analyze outbound cargo before it is loaded on the aircraft. 'Smart' computers will automatically electronically cross-reference the numbers, shapes and dimensions of the exported cargo with the description on the commercial invoices, air waybills, and SEDs. Suspicious shipments will then be examined by hand by Customs officers. Welcome to Aldous Huxley's Brave New World for air cargo.