Introduction

What is Import Compliance?

‍Several rules and regulations exist that govern the import of goods into the domestic commerce of countries.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), within the Department of Homeland Security, are the primary border enforcement agencies within the United States. CBP, amongst other duties, are the inspectors at ports of entry and enforce nearly 500 U.S. trade laws and regulations on behalf of 47 federal agencies. They are responsible for facilitating legitimate trade, collecting revenue, and protecting the U.S. economy and its consumers from harmful imports and unfair trade practices. HSI personnel investigate violations of those same border laws and regulations in coordination with CBP, often times after commodities have been imported or exported and an infraction of export / import law has occurred. Department of Justice (DOJ) will prosecute entities founds by CBP and HSI to have flouted import regulations.

U.S. import regulations typically apply to the following:

1. The entity/person, organization or country that are shipping and receiving the goods.
2. The type of commodities being imported.

U.S. border enforcement agencies’ legal authorities date back to the founding of the U.S. and they have a very powerful enforcement role due to their unique border authorities. Within the border environment, CBP and HSI have warrantless search authorities, can compel production of documents related to the import, purchase and transport of the shipment, and detention/seizure authorities not provided to any other government agency.  

Importers - whether they are the manufacturers, shippers or other entities involved in the supply chain - need to be aware of the rules and regulations that govern imports. The burden of compliance, which continues to grow for each participant in the global supply chain, is legally known as the “reasonable care” standard (19 U.S.C. § 1484). The trade community is expected to maintain customs compliance programs to ensure customs entries are submitted correctly and reliable procedures are developed/implemented in order to maintain the reasonable care standard for those trade transactions.

Why is Import Compliance important?

The following summarize some of the reasons why import compliance is important:

1. Trade violations adversely impact the U.S. economy and its global trade competitiveness.
2. Unfair trade practices hurt U.S. domestic industries and American job security.
3. Importers are at risk for severe civil and criminal penalties as well as reputational damage for violations of customs laws.

Typical import-related investigation involve activities such as

• Revenue protection (i.e. failure to pay duty on imported commodities),
• Contraband smuggling
• Money laundering schemes including trade-based money laundering,
• Safety and/or security enforcement programs such as forced and child labor,
• Anti-Dumping / Countervailing Duties (AD / CVD)
• Intellectual Property Violations (IPR)
• Food and Pharmaceutical safety
• Illegal Wildlife Trafficking (IWT)

What rules do you need to adhere to?

‍There are multiple rules and regulations that need to be complied with and failure to do so can lead to severe criminal penalties and civil fines. Examples of some include: 18 U.S. Code § 542, 19 U.S. Code § 1592, Sanctions Statutes and more.

For a full list of regulations and statutes relevant to companies in the import space, please log into our app to get access to the full Playbook, as well as a mapping for how each BITE module helps you remains compliant with specific regulations.

How does BITE Help?

The BITE Playbook, available in the BITE app, helps you navigate these regulatory requirements and quickly understand which agencies enforce what regulations associated with your specific transaction.

BITE Data: our BITE Playbook maps directly to watchlists, Harmonized Schedule codes and commodity screening lists, allowing you to quickly check a commodity or person against the extensive filters in our platform.

BITE includes extensive, in-depth training modules to help users get set up for success and walk you through how to stay on the right side of compliance.

Sign up for the app here: https://app.bitedata.io/ or send us an email to set up a demo: bite@nuborders.com