Export Compliance

QUESTION: We have technical data documents that are export-controlled and are currently stored on local servers. Is it permissible (after any appropriate licensing) to use a cloud storage solution based outside the U.S.? **************** Answers: While in the past, storing technical data outside the US was considered an export by both Commerce (EAR) and State […]

QUESTION: NOTE: members MUST reply directly to: krhoads@proofpoint.com Has anyone has recently rolled out an Export Compliance Program, or, have a solid ECP in place and is willing to share their experience and knowledge. We have a solid, but rough framework in place using the ECP Guidelines from BIS and other various publications.  Yet, would […]

QUESTION: I am new to managing logistics/trade compliance for a cybersecurity company that provides mainly saas based products. On occasion, we ship appliances/servers with imaged software to international locations.  We use the invoice to note the sale price of the imaged appliance for shipment value.  Often though,  the invoice contains other saas products and service […]

QUESTION: I am having a discussion with my Customs Broker on what is the correct declaration for country of export on a recent shipment.  Scenario-  one shipment from a  vendor in Germany. Ex works Germany, forwarder located in Netherlands and sailed from Rotterdam, House bill shows pick up location as Germany, port of export Rotterdam..  […]

QUESTION: I’m hoping someone can shed light or point me in the right direction regarding the potential misclassification of export merchandise.    All of our company’s products are EAR99/NLR so there is no matter of licensing; we also have a denied party screening program in place.   However, some of the items being exported are assembled into […]

QUESTION: I was auditing some export shipments to HK and found four shipments destined for the same customer, exported on the same day.  The value of each was $500, making the total value $2,000.  Less than the EEI filing threshold. In addition to the extra shipping and processing costs I am wondering if the reason […]

QUESTION: We make several hundreds of FCA, customer pick up shipments a month, all items that we sell are EAR99. We have a global ERP system and these orders are placed by the overseas customer service on the US branch plants, they also generate CI and SLI for their customer and coordinate cargo pick up […]

QUESTION: Where can I find the potential fines and penalties for not maintaining export documentation for five years as a USPPI? ========== Answers: There is one from 2009 where the yellow-red express carrier could not produce records that were within the five year statute resulting in a settlement agreement that was almost $10 million. Just […]

QUESTION: Would the membership share your best practices for SPL screening in compliance with U.S. export control? I came to realize that the language translations such as Chinese can be different than OFAC characters translation. For example, when I showed local Chinese some of the SDN list, the entities and or individual are non-existence in […]

QUESTION: One of our locations could not complete the EEI filing because the system went down. The product was shipped anyway with an EEI filing. Value of $3,500.00. How do we fix this? Do we self report? To whom? Will there be fines or penalties? ************** Add’l Answer: Some good answers below, follow their advice. […]

QUESTION: I have friends who have specialized in import trade compliance for 10 years, mostly in apparel/footwear and consumer products. They have dabbled in export TC but its very basic – screenings, record keeping, auditing export filings, all EAR99 product. Taken the online BIS training’s. Any knowledge of difficult export requirements is really theoretical. No […]