Customs Update: Complying with "reasonable care".
3/01
Published in the Journal of Commerce on March 23, 2001Every which way you turn these days, the U.S. federal inspection agencies are talking about reasonable care.
They may not all call it that, but whether it is the Bureau of Export Administration, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Federal Communications Commission, or any of the 60-odd agencies with jurisdiction over international trade transactions, they are all saying basically the same thing: Know your product, and how it is going to be used and sold by your buyer. How to comply, then, is a problem for companies large and small.
Regulatory compliance flows from the top down. If a company's management does not value compliance, its employees will simply ignore it.
Businesses typically start the process of regulatory compliance through the nuts and bolts of systems and staff training. The system approach often starts with the Board passing a resolution stating that one of the company's goals is to have the highest possible level of compliance - a critical cornerstone in this effort.
These resolutions become a permanent part of the company's history but are only a starting point. Each company needs to identify its own unique compliance issues. Professional advisors, the trade press, trade associations and agency outreach all help create awareness; and some even assist companies in creating their own compliance manuals (especially attorneys, consultants and customs brokers). Women in International Trade of Orange County has a very active Customs User Group, a major goal of which is to help its member companies' Customs professionals create, maintain and update their compliance manuals and procedures.
The system part of the puzzle continues with the company either establishing procedures or making sure that its existing procedures allow all interested individuals to exchange necessary information in a timely fashion, so that proper planning takes place. All too often, different people within a given business have responsibility for different parts of the import or export function (and the related finance and inventory/warehouse operations) and fail to regularly communicate. When that happens, trouble, or at least mass confusion, is sure to follow, as well as cost increases.
Despite these and other options, companies are still generally left to their own devices when it comes to training programs. Given the unique nature of international trade, helpful programs are hard to find. The Foreign Trade Association of Southern California offers one of the best-known courses designed to help individuals understand U.S. import requirements and prepare for the customs broker examination. The World Trade Institute in New York also offers a wide range of substantive courses, but most trade association programs are general in nature or at least not specifically designed to fit the needs of an individual company. So where do managers go for help when they want to train their staffs?
S.K. Ross & Assoc., P.C.
5777 W. Century Blvd. Suite 520
Los Angeles, CA 90045-5659
Tel: (310) 410-4414 Fax: (310) 410-1017
www.skralaw.comPRIVACY NOTICE
This message is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged, confidential or exempt from disclosure under applicable federal or state law. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient or the employee or agent responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by telephone and return the original message (and all copies you may have made) to us at the above address via regular U.S. mail.