TradeLane

The business realities of global trade are constantly changing. Not only do importers and filers have to adapt to meet these realities, CBP does as well. The increasing complexity of global trade means more joint ventures, more complex import transactions, and simply many other situations that were not envisioned during the drafting of many import laws. These days many import transactions contain indeterminable information – that is at the time of import. More and more transactions involve adjustments to the price paid or payable that are not known until months after the import transaction occurs. Filers and ports of entry established processes and procedures for reporting these adjustments such as protests and prior disclosures. These local versions of “reconciliation” were problematic because the procedures varied from port to port, often had no legal basis, and lacked adequate financial controls.

In most operations, the compliance department audits and approves the duty bills as part of its responsibilities. The good news is that the U.S. government will accept many forms of payment for import duty and fees:

• U.S. currency and coins
• Bank drafts
• Cashiers' checks
• Certified checks
• Personal checks drawn on a U.S. financial institution
• Domestic travelers' checks
• U.S. Governments checks endorsed by the payee to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection
• Money orders (U.S. Postal, bank, express or telegraph)

The bad news is that there’s no clear way for an international compliance group to show that these every-day compliance processes improve the bottom line. Or is there?

I’ve always found it interesting that so many healthcare companies that import chemicals and pharmaceuticals have such a difficult time with import compliance. These companies typically have solid regulatory compliance knowledge regarding the FDA, Departments of Agriculture, Consumer Product Safety Commission and many other agencies and have access to chemists and manufacturing product experts. It’s never as easy as it appears.

As a former Director of Operations and a licensed Customs Broker, I understand how difficult it can be to stay on top of changes in the regulations that surround import compliance. The proliferation of trade preference programs offer savings opportunities but require a company to accept significant responsibilities which can be difficult to manage.  All of these programs have a foundation in the accurate classification of imported products.

The world of international trade is a complex one, with numerous governmental agencies overseeing any one transaction. As professional trade consultants, we get that regulations are constantly evolving. It can be hard to stay on top of it all. With this in mind, we are launching our new blog – TradeLane.

Under Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), companies are able to reduce their duty liability on qualifying goods sourced in FTA countries. This might seem like a simple undertaking until you take into account everything that must be done to benefit from continued lower duty costs under an FTA.