TradeLane

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) in Australia recently published DIBPN 2016/35, Voluntary Disclosures under Section 243T and Section 243U Customs Act 1901. In this notice, DIBP highlighted their commitment to working with industry to encourage higher levels of voluntary compliance by providing increased transparency to the regulatory trade environment.

A voluntary disclosure is the communication of a written notice of an error, omission or adjustment in statements made to DIBP. If you make such disclosures voluntarily, before DIBP instigates any queries or proceedings, you will likely be protected from penalties that would otherwise be imposed.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas… an Aussie Christmas with sunny skies, blistering heat, packed beaches and rapidly depreciating personal bank accounts. But if that’s not enough to get you excited, there is, of course, the recently released Goods Compliance Update (“The Update”) from the Australian Border Force (“ABF”).

The Update aims to highlight pertinent issues identified by the ABF, compliance areas of focus, and provides some statistics on the Compliance Programme results for the 2015/2016 Financial year. I’ll reiterate that second point - the ABF highlight the compliance areas of focus, hence if your activities fall within these areas it is recommended that you assess, and if appropriate address, any risks.

Last year I published a blog entitled “The No-No List.” were I talk about bad ideas in Trade and in my household. Well, a year later I’m sure we are a little older, a little smarter, and my sweet children have learned to stop putting gum in each other’s hair… maybe not but I’m definitely a year older. 

Since my first day at Tradewin, I have always been interested in items being seized at the border and general non-compliance.  It seems like such an interesting crossroad of illegal activity.  Some I think are quite obvious to you and I, while others are not so much. 

Remember back in your college days, when you had to stay on top of all your financial aid forms?

Remember how your parents would nag you about CSS and FAFSA every year when the submissions were due?

As a current college student and Tradewin intern, I am no stranger to financial aid deadlines and nagging parents – in fact, I’ve got three years of experience under my belt. Although it’s a pain to keep track of all the forms, it is important to make sure they are all filled out correctly and submitted on time. Otherwise, the College Board (or worse, the federal government!) will make life difficult.

You may have missed it but on February 24, 2016, H.R. 644 became public law. What is H.R. 644 you ask? It is the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015.

Great. More rules. And largely with a focus on CBP, ICE and the GAO. Snooze.

But for importers there really is some awesome news!