TradeLane

Time has certainly flown since I last posted about the first Goods Compliance Update for 2017 and here we are looking at the second Update from Australian Border Force (ABF) for the year. Here is a brief summary of the relevant points importers and exporters should be aware of:

Ah, summer!  Fun, sun, smuggling, and conflict minerals. Around this time last year, a Chinese-owned gold mining company was gifting cash and guns to local militias, while at the same time smuggling approximately $17 million of gold out of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

If you happen to be reading this on a mobile device, you currently have gold embedded in an electronic circuit right beneath your fingertips…

With the Brexit in full motion, the Britons should never have to worry about the infamous Euro-sausage ever becoming a threat to the English banger again. That should put many an Englishman at ease (watch the 1984 Christmas Special of the BBC’s “Yes Minister” if you are pondering the origin of this joke). The prospect of losing the liberty to fill up at the gas station though, is probably less of a laughing matter, especially if petrol and diesel powered vehicles have been a way of life for at least the last 60 years if not longer.

 Most exporters of technology products have learned in the past, either through good corporate governance or a knock on the door by their local export control enforcement authority, that encryption is a sensitive subject (pun intended).

Within the European Union, most items incorporating encryption are classified as dual-use goods (when not Military items) and are subject to Export Control.

Within the EU, French authorities extend control of encrypted items beyond the export process to import as well.  Cryptographic items can move freely within French territory. However, supplying, importing, or exporting encrypted items are regulated activities.

I originally wrote this blog back in 2013 and it’s as important now as it was then. The landscape has changed a little, with NAFTA now front and center, but good trade compliance is still good business!

When your organization is faced with compliance issues that never seem to go away, an objective review by a third party may allow your company to focus on the aspects of the business that you do best. Importers and exporters are held accountable for compliance with Customs requirements, and must use “reasonable care” in their international trade processes.

What does this mean, and how do you know when it’s time to engage a trade compliance expert?