TradeLane

With modern age online shopping, our favorite items might just be a click away. When I was living in Shanghai, logistics had become so advanced that the typical lead time from purchasing an item to having it delivered at the door should not take more than 1 or 2 days.

As a consumer, do we ever think about how it is possible for products to be delivered so quickly?

As a customs and trade consultant, I have had the privilege to work with many retailers. We analyze the flow of goods and transactions to optimize supply chain and trade compliance.

Dual-use goods are defined as goods, equipment, technology, and knowledge that may have either civilian or military use or may contribute to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

As part of their global strategy, most countries have regulations in place to control the export of dual-use goods. National authorities issue the lists of products for which they want to control the exports and for which a license is required.

The passage of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (signed in February 2016) seems to have prompted a renewed effort by CBP to enforce regulations regarding the importation of “Merchandise Produced By Convict, Forced, or Indentured Labor.”  We have seen many instances over the last few weeks where importers have received CF28s asking about steps the importer has taken to ensure that their supply chains are free of child, forced, or convict labor.  Some of the demands are exceedingly broad:

If you are being attacked by a stronger opponent, sometimes you need a strong shield. Korea Customs is such an opponent with all the power of the government behind them, how can importers protect themselves?  

One defensive shield available is the ‘ACVA’ program.

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…