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US Indo Legal Services
Phones- Off (USA)- 718-850-1952,
718-668-1258, 212-859-3538 E-mails- ramkishan@drtsolutions.com or anandesq@hotmail.com Web- www.usindolegal.com Tuesday 22nd November 2005 (last modified)
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By Anand Ahuja, Attorney at Law[Anand
Ahuja is licensed to practice law in the States of New York, Connecticut,
Virginia, United States Court Of Appeals for Federal Circuit, and India. He
works for Anand Ahuja Associates, Attorneys at Law and International Business
Consultants, 67 Wall Street, Suite 2211, New York, NY 10005. There has been a noticeable trend in the regulatory enforcement in the United States. A distinct trend in international trade compliance is to give business substantial leeway to handle international trade business issues while providing the Government with the ability to monitor through audits and increased enforcement for serious violations Imports In December 1993, Congress enacted a major overhaul of U.S. customs laws, the Customs Modularization Act (the “ Mod Act”). The Mod Act introduced two concepts affecting import compliance, i.e., “informed compliance “ and “reasonable care.” Informed Compliance means private sector agreeing to accept additional responsibility and accountability for its actions and the Customs Service agreeing to introduce significant new measures to inform importers and exporters of their obligations under the law. Reasonable care describes the importing company’s obligation under the law for import compliance, imposing greater responsibility on the importer for the classification and valuation of its imported merchandise. Some indications of what would be considered exercise of reasonable care, based upon the legislative history, are: (1) furnishing information to customs which permits an accurate appraisement and classification; (2) seeking guidance from Customs through the pre-importation or formal ruling programs; (3) consulting with an attorney, custom broker, customs consultants etc. Some of the agencies that regulate import of goods in the United States, are: (a) Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco [http://www.atf.treas.gov] for wine, sprits, beer, tobaccos, firearms, munitions, and certain military aircrafts; (b) Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) [http:// www.otext.doc.gov] Textiles and wearing apparel; (c) Consumer Product safety Commission (CPSC) [http://www.cpsc.gov] Wearing apparel (fiber content) textiles, toys, crayons, chalk, pens, pencils, bicycles, cigarette lighters; (d) Department of Agriculture (USDA) [http://www.usda.gov] for foods and foodstuffs; (e) Department of Commerce (DOC) [http://www.doc.gov] Administrators anti-dumping duties and countervailing duty cases; (f) Department of Defense (DOD) [http://www.defensellink.mil] Explosives, munitions, nuclear reactors, military and combat vehicles/vessels/aircrafts, machinery, technology for military use; (g) Department of Transportation (DOT) [http://www.dot.gov] cars, boats, motorcycles, trains etc; (h) Department of State (DOS) [http://www.state.gov] Military articles, weapon systems, technologies designated as national security threats, imports from embargoed countries; (i) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [http://www.epa.gov] Chemicals, petroleum, raw materials, waste and scrap, minerals, autos, trains, airplanes, and motors; (j) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) [http://www.faa.gov] Civil aircraft, aircraft parts, and aircraft engines; (k) Federal Communication Commission (FCC) [http://www.fcc.gov] Broadcasting and transmission related electronic products and appliances, computer and television monitors; (l) Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) [http://www.fmc.gov] All commercial shipping related articles, including vessel and ships stores and provisions; (m) Federal Trade Commission (FTC) [http://www.ftc.gov] Enforces a variety of federal antitrust and consumer protection laws; (n) Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) [http://www.fws.gov] Protects endangered species designated on FWS lists; (o) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) [http://www.fda.gov] All food, herbs, medicines, non alcoholic beverages, agricultural products; certain consumer electronics, chemicals etc; (p) U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) [http://www.usitc.gov] Issues anti-dumping duties and countervailing duties rulings, as well as exclusion orders dealing with intellectual property rights issues. Exports Much like the responsibility the importer bears under the “reasonable care” standard, the exporter bears the responsibility for the correct processing of an export-related transaction. It has long been the exporter’s responsibility to determine if an export-related transaction is controlled by the United States and whether a specific license is required for the transaction, or if the transaction is otherwise prohibited. The Department of Commerce, Bureau of Export Administration regulates items controlled for strategic and “dual-use” reasons, or items having both civil and military applications. The Department of State, Office of Defense Trade Controls regulates items designed, developed or modified for military purposes or applications. The Department of Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control administers the United States economic and trade embargo against Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Iraq and Libya, and their “Specially Designated Nationals.” Other United States agencies responsible for the administration of export controls include the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Department of Energy and the Bureau of Census. Most importantly, the United States Customs Service is responsible for the enforcement of export controls at the point of export. The compliance review process begins with an examination of specific prohibitions under the primary jurisdiction responsible for the administration of U.S. Export Controls, as well as specific documentation and record keeping requirements. The most important change under the overhaul of the Export Administration Regulations is the removal of the requirement that all items exported from the United States or reexported from abroad require either a validated or General License. Under the new regime, a license is required only when the regulations specify such requirement based on “Ten General Prohibitions”. U.S. import and export laws impose greater burdens on companies for compliance. Therefore, companies subject to U.S. import and export laws should examine their existing procedures and devise an effective compliance program to avoid any complications. |
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US Indo Legal Services
Phones- Off (USA) -718-850-1952,
718-668-1258, 212-859-3538 E-mails- ramkishan@drtsolutions.com or anandesq@hotmail.com Web- www.usindolegal.com In most of the search engines results like that of www.google.com, www.yahoo.com, www.lawcrawler.com, www.altavista.com, www.msn.com, www.indiatimes.com, www.rediff.com, www.hotbot.com, www.AllTheWeb.com, www.askjeeves.com, www.lycos.com, www.teama.com, www.aol.com, www.inktomi.com, www.looksmart.com, www.dmortz.com, www.overture.com, www.netscape.com, www.wisenut.com our site has started appearing in the categories of law, legal, antidumping, immigration, exports, imports, technology transfer, legal BPO, offshore BPO, outsourcing, Business Process Outsourcing, BPO legal, legal BPO Cases, legal BPO matters, Anand Ahuja, Ram Kishan, drt, debt recovery tribunal, debt recovery solutions, borrowers, guarantors etc. In the category of Anand Ahuja in google, among 8950 entries on 17.03.04, this site is ranked as No 1. Our focused areas are BPO, legal BPO i.e. legal Business Process Outsourcing, insurance, banking, finance, transcription etc. Our range of legal activities comprise legal research, various aspects of legal matters, legal advice, answers to legal questions, legal solutions, legal collaborations, advice for proper legal actions, legal activities, legal reactions, legal arguments, legal process, legal repercussions, legal impacts, analysis of legal forces, study of legal bodies, legal organizations, legal circumstances, legal clues, legal consequences, legal coverage etc. The BPO activities include study of BPO jobs, BPO assignments, BPO enterprises, BPO cost centers, BPO projects, BPO accounts, BPO players, BPO assignees, BPO firms, BPO companies, BPO organizations, BPO in India and USA, Indian BPO, insurance, banking, finance, trascription etc. Useful sites for our new visitors are www.lawsource.com, www.intellevate.com, www.onesource.com, www.gartner.com, www.pointcom.com, www.oneyma.com, www.law.com, www.onebpo.com, Our associate site for Indian operations is www.drtsolutions.com. Our IT wing has microsoft certified software engineers who are up to date with latest contents of www.microsoft.com Send mail to with questions or
comments about this web site to :-
ramkishan@drtsolutions.com or
anandesq@hotmail.com
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The United States Export-Import Rules and Procedures