Category: Best Practices

Last week, FLIR Systems, Inc. entered into a Consent Agreement with Department of State, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (“DDTC”) to settle allegations of violations of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (“ITAR”). There were 347 alleged violations cited in the Proposed Charging Letter. These violations included 219 counts of unauthorized exports to Foreign-Person employees;…

Just like cooler temperatures and falling leaves are the harbingers of autumn, so too are the notifications that will soon be arriving from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that your company has been selected for a Focused Assessment. What can you do to prepare for one of these assessments? How can you ensure that…

Routed Export Transactions And Your Business Have you ever struggled to determine the responsibilities and parties in a routed export transaction? If so, you’re not alone! Routed transactions make even the most experienced exporters pause. They have been described as dreaded, confusing, mysterious, and complicated! What is a Routed Export Transaction? The difference between a…

Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corporations, (“ZTE”), and its subsidiaries and affiliates entered into a settlement with three U.S. government agencies covering civil and criminal charges filed against the company. The proposed $1.9 billion settlement closes a five-year investigation into ZTE’s exporting and reexporting activities, whereby roughly $40 million of U.S.-origin goods passed through China to companies…

During the dark days of winter (January to be exact), the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), published a new regulatory requirement dealing with items controlled under multilateral regimes. This new rule, effective in April, requires exporters and reexporters to obtain a Hong Kong import license or written statement from the…

In July 2016, the U.S. Department of State, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) announced that it had re-initiated its Company Visit Program for companies engaged in ITAR-controlled work. The stated objectives of this program are: Advance DDTC’s understanding of how different companies establish and maintain an overall defense trade control program to fit the…

The clock is ticking! Exporters have just one month (until November 15, 2016) to change the language and use of their Destination Control Statements (DCS). As the U.S. Government moves forward with the harmonization of export regulations under Export Control Reform, the ITAR and the EAR will soon be aligned with respect to the content…

Here’s a question we see all the time: We’re registered as a manufacturer of defense articles, but we do not export. So, why do we need a compliance program with written policies and procedures? To answer this question, let me provide a real-world illustration from a recent Government Accounting Office (GAO) document. A special “heads-up”…

Here’s one for all the Human Resources professionals out there. The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (the “OSC”) has issued a response to a request for guidance regarding complying with antidiscrimination laws (specifically under the Immigration and Nationality Act, or “INA”) when verifying employees’ citizenship status under…

How do you build a “culture of trade compliance” in your organization? You might as well ask, “How do you eat an elephant?” In both cases, the answer is seemingly simple, yet also complex – one bite at a time. A quick search for “culture of compliance” on the internet yields thousands of scholarly and…