Shipping goods into the United States isn’t always a seamless process. At some point, almost every U.S. importer will experience a clearance delay getting their goods through U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP). What does this mean? In a nutshell, a clearance delay means your shipment hasn’t cleared Customs and is still in their possession. …
Years ago, I heard an enforcement official describe deemed exports like “hugging a cloud.” As soon as you had your arms around a situation, it would dissipate – evaporating into mist, expanding, visibly there, but at the same time, somehow, not there. Fast forward to today, and the same government agency is trying to get…
The Foreign Trade Division of the U.S. Census Bureau is the official source for U.S. export and import statistics. This agency is responsible for issuing regulations governing the reporting of all export shipments from the United States. Any exporter who ships outside of the United States is responsible for complying with these regulations and for…
Do you slap “Made in USA” labels on your products or advertise in this way? Can you, without a doubt, declare your products are – in fact – made in the USA? This is one of the most overused (and misunderstood) proclamations companies make on the market today. Ensuring accuracy is imperative because the consequences…
If your company imports or exports, you might hear the word Sanctions thrown around. You might even feel like Jan Brady and wonder why Marcia gets all the attention or, in this case, Sanctions. What are Sanctions? The word Sanction has several meanings and can be used as a noun or a verb, but in…
If you’ve spent the last year-and-a-half focused on Russia, hold that thought, and don’t take your eye off other bad actors around the world. That’s what the U.S. Government is warning with its third joint notice, published earlier this month. The previous two notices were specific to Russia. Now, the new notice warns U.S. institutions…
What are “antiboycott” regulations? These regulations were adopted to encourage and require U.S. firms (in some cases) to refuse to participate in foreign boycotts that are not sanctioned by the U.S. This would be an “unsanctioned boycott.” In addition, U.S. persons are also required to report boycott-related requests to both the Office of Antiboycott (OAC)…
Trade compliance audits can be scary, cumbersome and time-consuming. Why would any company subject itself to this? The importance of any import/export compliance audit is to avoid the dreaded “F&P” words. These are two words that most companies don’t want to hear … or even say (unless it’s behind closed doors). I’m talking about Fines…
Another day. Another restriction against China. Earlier this month, President Biden signed an executive order targeting U.S. investment in certain national security technologies where that investment involves “countries of concern.” Currently, these “countries of concern” are China, Hong Kong and Macau … but mostly, China. On the same day this order was signed, the Treasury…
Not surprisingly, last month’s G7 Summit solidified the persistent and unified commitment in support of Ukraine through new sanctions and export restrictions on Russia and Belarus. The purpose remains the same – the G7 countries’ continuation to cripple Russia’s ability to source goods and technology required for the war in Ukraine. This results in the…