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Automated Commercial System
The Customs Service’s Automated Commercial System, ACS, is a joint public-private sector computerized data processing and telecommunications system linking customhouses, members of the import trade community, and other government agencies with the Customs computer. Trade users file import data electronically, receive needed information on cargo status, and query Customs files to prepare submissions. Duties, taxes, and fees may be paid by electronic statement, through a Treasury-approved clearinghouse bank. ACS contains the import data used by Census to prepare U.S. foreign trade statistics. ACS began operating in February 1984 and includes: (a) the Automated Broker Interface; (b) the Census Interface System; (c) the Automated Manifest Systems; (d) the Bond System; (e) the In-Bond System; (f) the Cargo Selectivity System; (g) the Line Release System; (h) the Collections System; (i) the Security System; (j) the Quota System; (k) the Entry Summary Selectivity System; (1) the Entry Summary System; (m) the Automated Information Exchange; (n) the Antidumping/Countervailing Duty System; (o) the Firms system; (p) the Liquidation System; (q) the Drawback System; (r) the Fines, Penalties, and Forfeitures System; and (s) the Protest System.
Automated Export System
The Automated Export System (AES) replaces the 30-year-old Automated Export Reporting Program. It is a cooperative effort by the Census Bureau and the Customs Service. It will almost completely replace paper as the method of reporting Shipper’s Export Declaration information.
Automated Foreign Trade Zone Program
The only approved direct electronic reporting program allowed to transmit statistical data on goods admitted into a Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) directly to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Automated Information Exchange
AlES, a part of Customs’ Automated Commercial System, allows for exchange of classification and value information between field units and headquarters.
Automated Manifest Systems
AMS, a part of Customs’ Automated Commercial System (ACS) controls imported merchandise from the time a carrier’s cargo manifest is electronically transmitted to Customs until control is relinquished to another segment of the ACS.
Balance of Payments
The balance of payments is a statistical summary of international transactions. These transactions are defined as the transfer of ownership of something that has an economic value measurable in monetary terms from residents of one country to residents of another. The transfer may involve: (a) goods, that consist of tangible and visible commodities or products; (b) services, that consist of intangible economic outputs, that usually must be produced, transferred, and consumed at the same time and in the same place; (c) income or investments, and (d) financial claims on, and liabilities to, the rest of the world, including changes in a country’s reserve assets held by the central monetary authorities. Generally, a transaction is the exchange of one asset for another – or one asset for several assets – but it may also involve a gift, which is the provision by one party of something of economic value to another party without something of economic value being received in return. International transactions are recorded in the balance of payments on the basis of the double entry principle used in business accounting, in which each transaction gives rise to two offsetting entries of equal value so that, in principle, the resulting credit and debit entries always balance. Transactions are generally valued at market prices and are, to the extent possible, recorded when a change of ownership occurs. Transactions in goods, services, income, and unilateral transfers constitute the current account, and transactions in financial assets and liabilities constitute the capital account. The International Monetary Fund, which strives for international comparability, defines the balance of payments as “a statistical statement for a given period showing (1) transactions in goods, services, and income between an economy and the rest of the world, (2) changes of ownership and other changes in that economy’s monetary fold, special drawing rights (SDRs), and claims on and liabilities to the rest of the world, and (3) unrequited transfers and counterpart entries that are needed to balance, in the accounting sense, any entries for the foregoing transactions and changes which are not mutually offsetting.” The U.S. balance of payments presentation does not contain a specific number that indicates an overall “balance,” although partial balances are published. In an accounting sense, an overall balance is not possible, because, the net sum of credit and debit entries in the balance of payments accounts is conceptually zero, in accordance with the principles of double-entry accounting. If the entries do not balance exactly, the net amount of missing credits or debits is entered as a statistical discrepancy in order to bring the two parts of the statement into equilibrium. The six balances that are currently published quarterly are:
Balance on –
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Banker’s Acceptance
A banker’s acceptance is a draft drawn on and accepted by the importer’s bank. Depending on the bank’s creditworthiness, the acceptance becomes a financial instrument that can be discounted.
Bank Affiliate Export Trading Company
An Export Trading Company partially or wholly owned by a banking institution as provided under the U.S. Export Trading Company Act.
Banker’s Bank
A bank that is established by mutual consent by independent and unaffiliated banks to provide a clearinghouse for financial transactions.
Banker’s Draft
Draft payable on demand and drawn by or on behalf of the bank itself; it is regarded as cash and cannot be returned unpaid.
Bank Guarantee
An assurance, obtained from a bank by a foreign purchaser, that the bank will pay an exporter up to a given amount for goods shipped if the foreign purchaser defaults. See: Letter of Credit.
Bank Holding Company
Any company which directly or indirectly owns or controls, with power to vote, more than five percent of voting shares of each of one or more other banks.
Bank Release
Negotiable time draft drawn on and accepted by a bank which adds its credit to that of an importer of merchandise.
Barratry
Negligence or fraud on the part of a ship’s officers or crew resulting in injury or loss to the ship’s owners.
Barter
Trade in which merchandise is exchanged directly for other merchandise or services without use of money. Barter is an important means of trade with countries using currency that is not readily convertible.
Bilateral Investment Treaty
A bilateral investment treaty, BIT, ensures U.S. investments abroad of national or most favored nation treatment; prohibits the imposition of performance requirements; and allows the American investor to engage top management in a foreign country without regard to nationality. BITs ensure the right to make investment-related transfers, and guarantee that expropriation takes place only in accordance with accepted international law. BITs also guarantee access by an investing party to impartial and binding international arbitration for dispute settlement.