News Articles

Exporting to Mexico legal requirements

Exporting to Mexico

If you are relocating to Mexico, or you are a producer, distributor, seller, etc., and the recipient of your goods is in Mexico because your client, final consumer, manufacturer, distributor, service provider, etc. is there, then, it is more than likely that you will be the exporter or the party responsible for reviewing and preparing some or all of the records needed to ship the goods to Mexico.

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Revisions and updates to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR)

Hot (or at least warm) Off the Press: Updates & Revisions to the ITAR

The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) is continuing its project to revise and update the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). Some of the changes are editorial and some are substantive. If you are affected by the ITAR or think you might be, you will need to stay on top of the changes because some (or all) may affect you.

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Regenerative Finance (ReFi) is a growing Web3 field

Regenerative Finance (ReFi): Tokenizing Carbon Offsets and Incentives

Regenerative Finance (ReFi) is a growing Web3 field that offers an opportunity to rethink how we approach finance, investing, and sustainable economic development. ReFi takes a holistic approach to finance and development, considering the environmental, social, and economic impacts of financial decisions, and aims to create a regenerative economic ecosystem rather than following a primarily extractive approach.

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Harmonized Tariff Schedule

The Multi-Purpose Role of the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule

When goods are imported into the United States, the importer-of-record (IOR) must, with reasonable care, file an entry (CBP Form 3461) and entry summary (CBP Form 7501), or the electronic equivalents, with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). These documents are the IORā€™s preliminary and final declarations about the nature and circumstances of the import transaction, and they tell the story of the transaction through more than forty data elements.

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Sonora Lithium

Sonora Lithium

In November 2022, Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard and U.S. Special Presidential Envoy John Kerryā€Æannounced at COP27[1] in Sharm el-Sheikh important steps forwardā€Æto address the

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Defense Technology and Security Administration DTSA

U.S. Bill Introduced to Move Export Controls From Commerce to DTSA. Is This a Good Idea?

On October 28, 2022, on the eve of the mid-term elections, a bill was introduced in the House that, unless you are an export control/compliance nerd, most would not have given it any thought. This bill, H.R. 9241, called the ā€œPrioritizing National Security in Export Controls Act of 2022ā€ was introduced by Representative Jim Banks, (R-Indiana) and co-sponsored by Robert Wittman, (R-Virginia), and Gregory Steube, (R-Florida).

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China Tariffs

Section 301 Update: Four-Year Review, Exclusions, Litigation, and the Future of China Tariffs

China Tariffs are here to stay ā€“ for now. The Biden Administration continues to defend the Trump-era tariffs on goods from China with little guidance as domestic inflation climbs steadily. Meanwhile, 2022 has been a busy year for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (ā€œUSTRā€). The agency was instructed by the Court of International Trade to provide further written justification for the Section 301 Actions for Lists 3 and 4a in the wake of the agencyā€™s obligatory four-year review of each tariff action.

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Tuas port

Tuas Megaport in Singapore, An Upcoming Model to the World in Port Operations, and soon to be Light Years Ahead of the Globes Largest Ports

The Maritime Port Authority (MPA in Singapore) is currently in the process of building the Tuas Port, which will be the biggest port in the world with a capacity of 60 million TEUā€™s (twenty-foot equivalent units) once it is fully completed in 2040. PSA, the company taking the lead in the construction has implemented a four-phase process, with the first phase officially opening this September 2022, with three berths being operational.

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Antidumping

Antidumping Duties ā€“ Can I Obtain a Separate Lower Rate?

In Antidumping (AD) investigations, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) typically selects only a limited number of exporting entities for review, with these exporters referred to as ā€œindividualā€ or ā€œnamedā€ respondents. Selection of these respondents is based on U.S. Customs and Border Protection Data, and in most cases due to limited DOC resources, will consist of only a few of the largest exporters.

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Semiconductor

The Semiconductor Industry in MĆ©xico

According to the science of composition, a semiconductor is a material which, when subject to light, heat or a specific electrical voltage may be transformed into a conductor. Semiconductors are used to produce memory sticks, PC cards, smart cards, microchips, microprocessors, transistors, compact flash, start media, among many other items.

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CBDC

Can, and Should, the U.S. Government Develop a CBDC System?

In response to the Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets[1] issued on March 9, 2022, both the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Treasury Department (Treasury) have recently issued reports analyzing the possible design and feasibility of creating a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).[2] The reports make clear that significant technical issues and major policy considerations need to be addressed for the U.S. to develop a CBDC.

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ftz

FTZs

The U.S. foreign-trade zones program was created by the Foreign-Trade Zones Act of 1934 during President Franklin D. Rooseveltā€™s administration. It was amended in 1950 under Harry S. Trumanā€™s administration and really came into play with global trade in 1984 under the Reagan administration. Today, there are over 230 foreign-trade zone projects and nearly 400 sub zones in the United States, all within or adjacent to the ports of entry. Every state has at least one port of entry, and there are 314 ports of entry categorized by 19field operations offices which they report to. These FTZs are there to eliminate and/or reduce tariff burdens on the importation of foreign inputs and on exported finished products. The cost savings can be substantial relevant to: duty exemption, duty deferral, duty reduction, invited tariff, merchandise processing fee, streamlined logistics, quota avoidance, and direct delivery. BLG has experts regarding the establishment and administration of FTZs.

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hit a wall

So You Just Hit a Wall

You discovered a wrong classification on product in the supply chain and you must decide whether or not to file a Prior Disclosure. If you go down this road, youā€™d better keep your friends and employees close and your enemies even closer because there is a nice size cash reward via customs for whistleblowers. If they find out, itā€™s classified as intentional, and the penalties are now multiplied by 10x the original amount. Why not come clean and use the Prior Disclosure as the mitigation tool that it was meant to be. Youā€™ll sleep better anyway. BLG can help with Prior Disclosure which we file on a regular basis. Global Trade Compliance is what we do.

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CF28

CF-28

Did you get a CF-28 from customs requesting additional information on a shipment? You only have 30 days to respond. Hopefully all necessary documentation will not have been sucked into the proverbial big black hold of missing information. The Importer of Record (IOR) has responsibility. If you case is bumped to a CF-29 mitigation strategies may need to be implemented, not to be confused with a next stop CF-30 which is from the State of California Health and Human Services Agency California Department of Social Services SAR 7 reminder notice. It may behoove you to internally publish best practices as laying the groundwork to be proactive is a much better plan of action via an import manual for all to follow. BLG can create the blue print specific to your business and can also provide customized training.

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Kerry Wang Podcast

Hot Topics in International Trade with Kerry Wang

Hot Topics in International Trade. Bob Brewer, VP of Marketing, Braumiller Law Group sits down with the newest member of the team, Senior Associate Attorney, Kerry Wang. Kerry was born and raised in China, and is licensed to practice law in China as well as CA. She also spent 5 years in medical school in China, got to her residency, and decided to become an international trade attorney instead. (UCLA here in the states) Smart lady!

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Free Trade Agreements

FTA and Benjamins

The U.S. currently has 21 Free Trade Agreements (FTA;s) in place with 21 countries, providing you with the leverage for your exports to compete in the global marketplace through zero or reduced tariffs, among other benefits. Do you know how to qualify? BLG can help you follow the Benjamins, all the way to your bottom line. Global Trade Compliance is what we do.

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aerospace

Aerospace and BCG

Aerospace consistently ranks among the top U.S. export industries (USEIā€™s) and is governed by very stringent export controls (ECā€™s) populated by regulations regarding ITAR, EAR, USML, CCL and ultimately the correct ECCN. Our colleagues in the sector know these acronyms well, possibly making you want to consistently TRLV (take really long vacations). At BLG we have decades of experience in this particular sector regarding GTC (Global Trade Compliance).

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Free Trade Agreements

Free Trade Agreements

The U.S. currently has 21 Free Trade Agreements (FTAā€™s) in place with 21 countries and you may not know which ones apply to your business. It could be Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Jordan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Oman, Panama, Peru, Singapore, Japan. We can assist you to qualify. Global Trade Compliance is what we do at BLG.

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light years

Light Years from China

A light year is 5.88 trillion miles and using the latest man-made vehicle, NASAā€™s Juno spacecraft traveling at 165,000 mph it would take 2,958 years to travel a light year. A cargo container traveling by ship from the Port of Shanghai, China to the Port of Los Angeles is 19,270 nautical miles and traveling at 10 knot, it takes 12-21 days. It just seems like 2,958 years if itā€™s your product onboard. Ever think of manufacturing in Mexico as an alternative? BLG has IMMEX experts onboard our ship. We love the science behind Global Trade Compliance.

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to err is human

To Err is Human

So you made a mistake and use the wrong classification code on your imports for the last year. To err is human and besides, we are not the most intelligent beings in the universe. Unfortunately customs does not take that into consideration. If you need a Prior Disclosure BLG can assist.

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