Product Classification Exchange (PCE) is an online portal that improves the way our suppliers submit declaration information in line with Export Control compliance requirements.
It will help to ensure that we and our suppliers stay compliant with Export Control laws and regulations. This is page is designed to support you with some of the most common questions you might have around the submission of your supplier declaration to BAE Systems with PCE. These questions have been grouped to cover PCE general, Exostar, my declaration, when to submit a declaration, security and information, where to get help.
We require our suppliers to provide declarations in order that we know what assets (including hardware, software, information and services) are subject to Export Control. These declarations are required either when we request a quotation or when we place a purchase order with a supplier. If these materials are supplied to us on a regular basis and the applicable programme is active, then we require a yearly refresh of the declaration. The Product Classification Exchange (PCE) tool supports how we gather declarations from our suppliers, programme partners and customers.
Whilst the content of the declaration information in PCE will remain the same as is currently submitted through the manual process today, PCE will promote a consistent and co-ordinated approach to gathering supplier declarations. PCE provides a secure and common portal for all of our suppliers to enter declaration information with respect to Export Control.
In exceptional circumstances it may be agreed that based on the value, volume and frequency of transactions that you will be able to submit manual declarations.
Most of the UK BAE Systems Businesses are asking their suppliers to use PCE for the creation and submission of its supplier declarations.
Any declarations that have been approved using the manual process will remain valid until a renewal is required. All renewals and declarations for new items will be undertaken in PCE, which introduces a consistent and co-ordinated approach to gathering supplier declarations. Yearly refresh declarations are fully populated with all the information previously submitted for suppliers to confirm or amend as required.
A part of the terms of business with BAE Systems for suppliers is to ensure that the correct export classification is applied. Please contact your Export Control team to explore this further.
You will receive a system generated notification, which will include instructions to create an account in Exostar. After successful registration, your Organisation’s Administrator will receive a notification to link to PCE via Exostar. Watch the Registration video on our introductory page.
Exostar provides a secure access management platform for organisations operating in the Aerospace and Defence industry and is an integral part of the Aerospace and Defence supply chain. It complies with US Department of Defense and UK Ministry of Defence regulations. PCE can only be accessed through Exostar. Any declaration information exchanged with BAE Systems using PCE will be stored securely.
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Most of the UK BAE Systems Businesses are asking their suppliers to use PCE for the creation and submission of its supplier declarations.
Once the request has been submitted it can take up to 72 hours for the request to be approved and the account to be set up. Once the account has been approved by the Exostar team, the requestor will receive their First Time Login information from Exostar via email.
If an employee requires access to Exostar they should register this request with their Organisation’s Administrator. While adding an employee as a user in Exostar, the Organisation Administrator can also grant access to PCE.
If an employee needs to be removed from Exostar, a request should be submitted to the Organisation’s Administrator. The Administrator can remove users via the Exostar administration screens.
Once you have logged into Exostar, PCE should appear on the home page under ‘My Applications’. Click on ‘Open Application’ link to access PCE.
PCE is a browser based application, and requires an internet connection. Users can access PCE via Exostar from their laptop / desktop using a browser e.g. Internet Explorer 11 onwards, Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.
If you receive a declaration request, which is not for you, you should inform the BAE Systems point of contact whose details will be provided in notification you will have received for the declaration request.
If you have not received a notification that you are expecting, you should get in touch with your BAE Systems point of contact for the declaration request.
A declaration request is raised with a due date for submission, which you are asked to work towards. This due date is set according to the urgency of the declaration request. Once you have the correct access to PCE via Exostar, it is a matter of populating all of the fields in the form with the correct information. Once the declaration is submitted, you will receive a notification that it has been approved or that further action is required.
When completing a supplier declaration request, you are able to declare that a main material is subject to the ITAR by virtue of being Controlled by its ITAR content rather than being ITAR Controlled itself. This is termed the ITAR See Through rule (the ITAR sees through the non-ITAR Controlled main material to the ITAR Controlled subcomponent within it). In the declaration, choose “Yes- see through rule” in the Subject to ITAR field.
At the point of submitting the declaration in PCE, it will ask for a confirmation that the declaration information is submitted by an authorised officer. An Empowered or Authorised Official (as defined by ITAR 120.25, but also including non-US persons with such authority) must submit the declaration on behalf of your organisation.
Once you have submitted your declaration, you will receive a notification that your declaration has been approved or if further action is necessary in order to obtain approval. If you have not received a notification you are expecting, you should get in touch with your BAE Systems point of contact. Their details can be found in the declaration request.
Following the submission of your declaration you will receive a notification. If the declaration has not been approved the notification should provide an explanation as to why.
All mandatory fields in PCE must be populated in order to submit a declaration. For material that you are not providing, you are able to select 'Exclude' from the field titled ‘Request Data’ for each material that you won’t provide. A further field will appear titled 'Exclude Comment', containing a drop down list of reasons for the exclusion, which must be populated in order for you to proceed.
A declaration is required either when we request a quotation or when we place a purchase order with a supplier. If these assets (including hardware, software, information and services) are supplied to us on a regular basis and the purchase order is open, then we require a yearly refresh of the declaration.
If a declaration is required for an expiring item, then you will receive a system generated notification from PCE to submit a declaration for this.
When a declaration is expiring, a system generated notification will be generated from PCE, which will request a renewal of an existing declaration.
Once a declaration is submitted, it is valid for 12 months. At the end of this period a renewal of the declaration may be required if the applicable programme is active. Where this is the case, the declaration would need to be reconfirmed through PCE.
The PCE application has been designed as per BAE Systems Security Standards. Declaration information is only accessible to the requesting Business Unit, which a supplier is providing to. PCE further restricts user access by enforcing Role Based Access Control i.e. cannot access the information that they are not entitled to.
To manage the access to PCE, the BAE Systems Identity and Access Management system is in place to authenticate and validate the user’s identity. It uses TLS1.2 based HTTPS protocol to secure communication between the user’s browser and the PCE application. Users are further authenticated using two factor authentication. User Authorization is governed by the PCE application’s Role Based Access Control, which ensures users are able to only access information as per their role entitlements.
Exostar contains the information that you provide about your organisation during the Exostar registration process. All supplier declaration information that is submitted is held by BAE Systems.
Once the declaration expires, the information in PCE will not be held beyond its retention period.
For technical help with Exostar please visit https://my.exostar.com/display/TE/Support or call 0203 300 7093.
When completing the form in PCE, guidance will appear on what information to include in the fields. If the guidance does not suffice when preparing and submitting your declaration, please read through the other frequently asked questions and responses we have prepared. For assistance with the completion of the form, please contact your BAE Systems representative, whose details are in the declaration request.