Compliance Dept – Organization

Questions and answers about Compliance Dept – Organization

  • Defining Trade Compliance vs Import Operations, Classification, Shipment Resolution

    Question: Has anyone seen a good explanation of Trade Compliance vs Import Operations.  I have been discussing these terms with team members in order to clarify roles within the org structure.  Many consider shipment resolution (addressing an issue that is causing a delay in customs entry or release). I define Trade and Customs Compliance as […]

  • CORPORATE TRADE COMPLIANCE

    QUESTION: I recall reading something somewhere about how centralized corporate trade compliance roles being allowed to provide trade compliance advice and carry out trade compliance functions for different business units that fall under the corporate umbrella but have different EIN/IRS/IOR #s only if that role was/is part of a Cost Sharing Agreement.  Is that correct? If […]

  • ETHICS AND COMPLIANCE ROLE

    *EXTERNAL SENDER* QUESTION: Is it common to incorporate the Ethics & Compliance role into the Trade Compliance role? My company wants to combine this role into mine (TC mgr) and I have no experience in this area.  We don’t have a legal dept. nor we have a single attorney working here. If anyone has this […]

  • Customs in Tax and Finance

    QUESTION: We are looking for how other companies handle being part of the Tax or Finance function.   Our function is newer at the corporate level and was put under Finance because we deal with taxes, aka Customs duties and fees. As a 20+ year compliance veteran, my team and I understand Customs is compliance plus […]

  • Trade Compliance asked to fill out SLIs for customer service

    QUESTION: The new head of customer service is under the impression that the role of trade compliance is to fill out the SLI for Customer Service.  I’ve tried explaining that isn’t what trade compliance does, and I’d be happy to help train customer service, but filling out the SLI accurately requires a knowledge of the […]

  • Taking on responsibility for regulatory matters

    QUESTION: We had a reorg in our company recently and the person in charge of regulatory matters for our equipment, machinery etc was let go without a replacement.   That person did the CE/UL review and started getting involved in NOM certifications.  The role is not being backfilled.  Yet, we are still exporting to new countries.   […]

  • TRADE COMPLIANCE PUSHBACK

    QUESTION: Have any other Trade Compliance professionals out there with 20+ years of experience joined a new company and offered the standard advice around doing compliance checks, audits, customs valuation considerations, classification accuracy making sure EEI filings are done, PGA permits are filed etc. only to be met with resistance? To hire a Trade Compliance […]

  • TRADE COMPLIANCE PUSHBACK

    QUESTION: Have any other Trade Compliance professionals out there with 20+ years of experience joined a new company and offered the standard advice around doing compliance checks, audits, customs valuation considerations, classification accuracy making sure EEI filings are done, PGA permits are filed etc. only to be met with resistance? To hire a Trade Compliance […]

  • New TC Dep’t: Supply Chain vs. Trade Compliance vs. Finance

    QUESTION: I’ve been tasked to create our organization’s trade compliance department, and I’d like an answer from the community on role placement. We have an employee that currently resides in Supply Chain, and their duties consist of reconciling invoices from the factory so they can process/post the invoices in our ERP for payment to be […]

  • New TC Dep’t: Supply Chain vs. Trade Compliance vs. Finance

    QUESTION: I’ve been tasked to create our organization’s trade compliance department, and I’d like an answer from the community on role placement. We have an employee that currently resides in Supply Chain, and their duties consist of reconciling invoices from the factory so they can process/post the invoices in our ERP for payment to be […]

  • INHERITING OLD HTS DATABASE

    QUESTION: I recently started a new job with a U.S. importer. The former trade compliance supervisor retired a few years ago but wasn’t replaced until very recently. In the interim, things ran on autopilot.   I’ve begun poking around at the HTS database. There are several incorrectly classified items! The issue seems extensive, across various […]

  • IMPORT DEPT REPORTING TO LOGISTICS

    QUESTION: Should the Import Dept report under the Logistics Dept? I’ve always understood that it should not, because the Logistics Dept will basically want to get the goods cleared asap, while the Import Dept must follow Customs regulations no matter what. Is it something like arms length? Or does Customs not care as long as […]