Export Control Reform Initiative

In August the President of the United States directed an interagency review of the US Export Control system. The Export Control Reform Initiative seeks to strengthen national security and the competitiveness of key U.S. manufacturing and technology sectors by focusing on current threats, as well as adapting to the changing economic and technological landscape. 

Economic turmoil in the EU has resulted in VAT confusion.

European governments are continuing to send out mixed messages about whether they wish to push ahead with more crisis VAT rises. This reflects the political battle between the Austerity vs. Expansion camps, arguing over what to do next as growth eludes many countries.

Women's Jeans Duty Increase

On March 1, 2013, a mere six days after they were announced, the Council of the European Union established additional customs duties on women's jeans from the US. This measure puts an additional duty of 26% on the import tax on women's denim. This more than doubles the duty rate from 12% to 38% for American-made denim. The specific HTS number in the Regulation is 6204.62.31 which is essentially women's denim pants.

WTO Launches Trade Monitoring Database

The WTO currently produces two series of "trade monitoring reports":

Nutritional supplements end up in Iran and result in Settlement 

SAN Corporation Settles for an alleged violation of the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. part 560. The transaction in question occurred in September of 2007. OFAC alleged that SAN sold nutritional supplements to an entity in Kuwait with knowledge that such goods were intended for end use in Iran.

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Screening

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) compliance screening is growing more important as enforcement picks up and penalties grow. As more attention is paid to its enforcement, it is important to avoid even “the appearance of evil”. It’s more important than ever to know who you are doing business with, but especially if they are or are connected to government officials.

Global Trade Management Implementation

Implementation of a global trade management solution is one of the best ways for businesses to realize drastic operational gains. Companies successfully implementing GTM can expect significant operational gains, comparable to gains achieved through their ERP implementations of the 1970s and 1980s. However, companies shouldn’t have unrealistic expectations that a GTM will solve every problem and challenge in all business units around the world. A never‐ending or unrealistic list of requirements leads to budget and time overruns, unmet expectations, and angry bosses.

Croatia VAT Change

Consumer Product Safety Commission Regulations

I’m sure you’ve heard of news stories about dangerous consumer goods like faulty baby cribs, lead-contaminated products, even food tainted with horse meat. The US Agency in charge of ensuring the safety of these goods, sourced both from foreign and domestic vendors, is the Consumer Product Safety Commission. They are a “other government agency” that places document requirements and testing on products from antennas to writing instruments. However, they do not classify their products to the HTS so these restrictions and document requirements are not tracked by CBP’s ABI system.

A Harmonized System for Intended Use Codes?

The US Government is requesting that the World Customs Organization (WCO) establish an international BASE CODE set of intended use codes. Governments often need to understand the intended use of an imported product to effectively review products for admission at borders. Although there is the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System can be used to denote the static characteristics of a product, there is no standardized global set of intended use codes.