TradeLane

Customs Audits……Stop rolling your eyes like you did when your Father told you “good things come to those who wait” or “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

Have you heard that U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP), will begin accepting applications from exporters for participation in the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program?  If your company is already a certified C-TPAT importer in good standing, your company is well on its way to becoming a C-TPAT exporter and can apply for the exporter program – simply update your profile in the portal.    

The C-TPAT exporter program provides the opportunity to partner with CBP to get a head start  in ensuring your overall corporate compliance program is up to par and receive  some additional benefits in the process, including:

First I would like to say ‘Hello!’ to all of the TradeLane readers, this is my first post here but will certainly not be the last. I joined Tradewin as Principal in Asia just recently and am really excited to be here!

When I travel to the US or the EU I am often asked to provide some thoughts on managing trade compliance in Asia. This is a bit difficult thing to do because there are of course an awful lot of countries in Asia (anywhere between 25-75 depending on what you count as ‘Asia’). And of course each country has its own unique set of trade regulations and practices that may or may not be similar to what exist elsewhere in the region or in the world.  Still, if we limit ‘Asia’ to the larger trading countries (say, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam), and exclude India, there are some general points that can be made that describe the environment as we experience it.

A few months back, I posed the question to you, “Do I really need a trade compliance expert?”  The overwhelming response, was that yes, in fact, I (you) do.  However, let’s dive a little deeper into some of the reasons why you need an expert.

I’m often asked for a link to one government site or another.  There are certainly hundreds of sites to choose from. Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees.  Here is a short list of web sites that contain some basic guidance for a laundry list of compliance issues. 

Have a favorite of your own that didn't make the list? Let us know in the comments below.