Miscellaneous

MISCELLANEOUS

  • WCO/WTO COOPERATION WITH NON-MEMBERS

    QUESTION: Can anyone point me to WCO and/or WTO rules, regulations or clauses that have to do with the jurisdiction WTO/WCO member customs agencies over importers or exporters outside of their jurisdiction? For example if a customs agency in Brazil or India or Japan wanted detailed information about a US company’s product’s manufacturing process or […]

  • Authority of Customs Agencies to require staffing

    QUESTION: In addition to the power and authority of Customs Agencies (globally) to assess fines and penalties on importers when there have been clear indications of negligence, gross negligence or fraud uncovered during an audit, do Customs Agencies also have the legal authority to require an importer to hire qualified staff to address the issues […]

  • How to investigate duty application by origin and product?

    QUESTION: Hello, we have been importing from China, are in the process of investigating feasibility of switching to other countries of origin. There are special duties like Section 301, 232, etc. that apply per origin and product. Is there an easy way to figure out which applies to our potential new source? Is there a […]

  • Possible move of DC from Germany to Netherlands – due diligence

    QUESTION: We are revisiting the site location of our DC in Germany. Our business is growing and before we expand into new warehouse space we would be interested in the pros and cons of moving our DC to NL. Has anyone done this before? Would you be able to show your pros and cons and […]

  • Tariff Exemptions and pricing adjustments

    QUESTION: If a tariff exemption has a specific FOB price criteria (i.e. price must be more than $.35 and not to exceed $2.00) is there any regulatory issue with negotiating pricing adjustments with vendors to increase and/or decrease the price of those subject items to allow the product to fall into the exemption range? The […]

  • DUTY REFUND FOR LOST SHIPMENT

    QUESTION: My company recently had shipment impacted by CN tariffs (roughly $35k) get lost in transit after clearance. The vendor did not package the shipment in accordance with carrier guidelines and half of the items were lost. The carrier has communicated that an extensive search was performed w/o resolution, so a replacement was ordered, which […]

  • Routed transaction

    QUESTION: I believe I truly understand what a routed transaction is; however please would you confirm that the transaction is still considered routed, due to the FPPI appointing a US forwarder to facilitate the goods out of the US, even if the USPPI files in the export system and not just when the FPPI’s US […]

  • US returns

    QUESTION: Have a question regarding returns back into US. If a customer is returning US Manufactured good and being return back to the manufacture/seller; in order to claim 9801 the only documents required is US manufacture Affidavit and Foreign shipper declaration right? Or is there anything additional you have to provide. In these cases returns […]

  • Screening at conferences

    QUESTION: If your company organizes events such as conferences, seminars or webinars, do you screen attendees against Denied Party List? If you do – do you screen attendees or invitees? If you do not screen applying concept of “open/unrestricted” conference, what factors do you use as a support of this determination. %%%%%%%%%%% ANSWERS: Yes, and […]

  • NEW SDN ENTITY LIST SCREENING PROCESS

    QUESTION: Nowadays, when we have constant additions to Entity List and SDN, what is the reasonable expectations for company for the timing of enforcement of new denials within internal systems? Depending on industry and nature of business(hardware/software/service) company may maintain different frequency of sales/engagements and database flagging, but overall I am curious to understand what […]

  • SHIPPING LED LIGHTS WITH BATTERIES

    QUESTION: Hi everyone. We have a question about the potential importation / shipping of LED flashlights. Various products fall under the following HTS Codes: 8513.10.2000 – Flashlights 8513.10.4000 – Flashlights: Other 8513.90.2000 – Of Flashlights There is a question regarding transportation / compliance requirements if these are shipped with or without batteries (alkaline is the […]

  • N KOREA SANCTION REGS

    QUESTION: I just got done review the OFAC N Korea sanctions. It appears that they do NOT apply to foreign subsidiaries/majority owned foreign joint ventures of US companies (like several other sanctions programs). 510.326 definition of US Person does not include foreign subs. So it appears that foreign subs of US companies are not subject […]