Miscellaneous

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Average Cost or Standard Cost

    QUESTION: Our finance team is discussing whether it should follow the Average Cost or Standard Cost costing method.  Does this decision have an impact on the customs valuation for imported or exported product?  If so, please explain what the impact is and which costing method should be used for imported and exported product. ************** Add’l […]

  • SELF-STAMPING CHAMBER OF COMMERCE CERTS

    QUESTION: I was told that our company has a stamp from our Chamber of Commerce so that we can stamp our own export documents when requested by the customer.  Is this valid? My understanding of the Chamber stamp signified that the Chamber as a third party reviewed the documents to for completeness and certified them. […]

  • HTS classification question EU and US

    QUESTION: Looking for HTS classification assistance here- for EU and US The plan is to purchase and import material that was extracted from a plant and subsequently refined and purified. This would be classified in Chapter 13. This material has also been granted a CAS number. When searching for the CAS number for the chemical substance in the […]

  • Working With Sale on Compliance

    QUESTION: I was wondering if anyone in the membership would be willing to share how they collaborate with their sales team to ensure export control and licensing approvals are in place before an order is entered in their ERP systems. One of the major struggles I have experienced is the disconnect between Sales, Compliance, and […]

  • APPROVED FOR USE VS. IMPORTATION

    QUESTION: I have been discussing with my colleagues in Reg Affairs the difference between the phrases “approved for use in a market” and “approved for importation into a market”.  By approved for importation, I mean industry registrations (USDA, Min of Health, FDA, FCC) or special documents to accompany a shipment or specific data that needs […]

  • PRODUCING RECORDS TIMELY FASHION

    QUESTION: When the regs dictate that I must be able to produce records in a “timely” fashion, what exactly does that mean? It can’t mean immediately or instantly, right?  A few hours or a day should be adequate? *************** Answers: Great question!  There is generally a rule of reason applied here.  CBP’s recordkeeping ICP provides: […]

  • Anti-Diversion Clause

    QUESTION: Can anyone share a sample Anti-Diversion Clause to put on an export invoice? =========== Answers: These commodities, technology or software were exported from the United States in accordance with the Export Administration Regulations.  Ultimate destination (insert country).  Diversion contrary to U.S. law prohibited. ========== Even if you are shipping EAR99 items and its not […]

  • One Item; Two Different Uses and Labels

    QUESTION: Our company markets an oil for topical use. The exact same product(s) is also marketed and labeled differently for a culinary use.      If one were to export these two products (labeled for their respective uses; one topical and one culinary) would it be under the same HS classification for essential character or it would […]

  • SLI vs POA

    QUESTION: Is this accurate? “Hey, forwarder.  You have a valid POA from my company.  Provided that all the relevant data is on the commercial invoice, you shouldn’t need an SLI.” %%%%%%%%%% ANSWERS: My experience has always been if the shipment requires a EEI, you need to fill out the SLI. While I have seen forwarders […]

  • SUCCESSOR LIABILITY

    QUESTION: Our company recently acquired the assets of another company.  We created a new division, hired the people from the other company, and bought their inventory.  The new division operates under my existing tax id.  Management is claiming that there is no successor liability in this case since we didn’t buy the company – we […]

  • SAP

    QUESTION: Does anyone running SAP know why they have the country code for Greece as “EL” instead of “GR”?  They are telling me they can’t/won’t fix it.  It causes a snafu when I extract customers from SAP to upload to my Restricted Party List screening provider, as they reject them all for invalid country code. […]

  • Entity List and Forced Labor

    QUESTION: One of my suppliers was recently added to the Entity List for human rights/ forced labor issues. Unsurprisingly, the supplier denies the allegations. The fact that the US govt has come to this conclusion should lead us to a pretty strong presumption that there are slavery/trafficking concerns at this supplier. But we have no […]