Why Identifying Red Flags Matters in Trade Compliance Many companies sell products worldwide, which is why it is important to identify trade compliance issues and red flags to prevent an export violation from occurring. This blog acts as a reminder and points out some important questions to ask yourself when processing transactions that involve shipping…
Commercial hand carries are classified as imports or exports and therefore necessitate the same compliance reviews as items shipped in standard packaging. Does your organization engage in the hand-carrying of commercial items for import or export? If so, do you have a formal policy or procedure in place to ensure compliance with relevant regulations? In…
Regulatory Blast – Drinking from a Firehose! The recent regulatory landscape is ever changing. In fact, I am finding it hard to stay up to date – and I am what some may say “experienced”! The other day, I told a colleague that I had not had an easy question to answer that week! In…
Did you know that the anti-boycott laws are part of export compliance? If not, you are not alone as this is often an overlooked due diligence requirement necessary to comply with the U.S. export laws. Understanding what U.S. anti-boycott compliance means and how it affects day-to-day operations is key to adhering to the requirements. These…
In 1789 Benjamin Franklin wrote in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, “… in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”. Nothing rings truer than when you are trying to import merchandise from another country. If you don’t get all the elements correct for an import entry, you might…
This past July, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) recently issued guidance on addressing both export controls and diversion risks. (Diversion risk refers to the potential for items, technology, or services to be redirected or transferred to unauthorized end-users or end-uses, which can violate export control laws and regulations). The guidance outlines various actions BIS…
The game of deception is a bad guy’s favorite game. The lengths of trouble that these people will go to in order to violate the law is extraordinary. Whether it is firearms, drugs or even money, their skills at trying to deceive U.S. Customs or BIS is quite astounding. I have witnessed some of their…
Two Russia-born U.S. citizens, Sergey Nefedov from Anchorage, Alaska, and Mark Shumovich from Bellevue, Washington, were arrested for allegedly operating a scheme to illegally export nearly half a million dollars’ worth of snowmachines and associated parts from the United States to Russia without the required export authorization and approvals through the company Absolut Auto Sales…
Adding to a list of seemingly never-ending problems, the Boeing Company recently agreed to pay a $51 million civil penalty for violating U.S. export regulations, specifically the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Arms Export Control Act (AECA). The company also agreed to remedial compliance measures and entered into a Consent Agreement with the…
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…