Our lawyers assist a wide variety of clients with designing compliance programs and responding to enforcement actions in matters relating to economic sanctions and import and export trade controls, including laws and regulations administered by the US Treasury Department, the US Commerce Department and US Customs and Border Protection.

Operating in the global economy means that international transactions are of increasing importance to most businesses, but national borders remain a critical feature of the legal landscape. Goods coming into the US, whether finished products or outsourced inputs, must comply with Customs regulations and duties. Outbound transactions must comply with export controls on goods or technology that could be used against US national interests, as well as US trade sanctions and other restrictions on certain countries, entities and individuals.

We have experience across a wide variety of industries with the legal and compliance requirements for imports and exports across US borders. We seek to assist clients in meeting those requirements and integrating them into the client’s global business strategy. In addition, we represent clients facing enforcement proceedings related to imports and exports, including efforts to impose substantial penalties or other sanctions. 

Our practice focuses on the following key areas:

Sanctions

• Advise on impact of global sanctions programs with respect to contemplated transactions, business relationships and counterparties.
• Advise and assist with voluntary disclosure of apparent sanctions violations to US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
• Assist with transactional due diligence on sanctions-related issues, to include screening of counterparties.
• Assist clients with obtaining licenses from OFAC for the sale of products or otherwise conducting business in sanctioned countries, as well with designing compliance procedures to use existing US government general licenses and license exceptions in a lawful manner.
• Assist clients with preparing and evaluating effective sanctions risk assessments and sanctions compliance programs (SCP) in accordance with OFAC’s “Framework for OFAC Compliance Commitments,” to include drafting implementing policies, procedures and internal controls.

Export

• Review technologies to determine classification under International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) for military items and Export Administration Regulations (EAR) for military/commercial dual-use items.
• Assist with transactional due diligence on export control compliance issues, including protection of covered technical information from access by foreign persons.
• Submit commodity jurisdiction requests to determine classification of products under EAR on the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security’s (BIS) Simplified Network Application Process Redesign (SNAP-R).
• Submit original, and amend existing, registrations under ITAR, particularly during mergers and acquisitions.
• Advise on use of EAR exemptions to avoid export licensing, including the ENC encryption exemption, TMP temporary export exemption and medical devices exemption.
• Submit licenses to export items under ITAR and EAR on SNAP-R.
• Advise and assist on voluntary self-disclosures of violations under ITAR and EAR.
• Review employment and hiring policies to comply with both ITAR and EAR “deemed export” restrictions and anti-discrimination laws.
• Advise on export and sanctions risks associated with exporting products to higher-risk countries such as Russia and Afghanistan.
• Support development of liquefied natural gas export facilities by advising on DOE and FERC export authorizations under the Natural Gas Act.

Import

• Review products to determine classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) and associated import tariffs.
• Advise on impact of tariffs on Chinese-origin products, including battery and solar panel components, under Trade Act Sec. 201 and Sec. 301, as well as countervailing and anti-dumping tariffs.
• Advise on Sec. 301 tariff mitigation strategies including duty drawback, Foreign Trade Zones, third-country substantial transformation and seeking tariff exceptions.
• Review documents necessary to import into the US, including Power of Attorney documents authorizing customs brokers.
• Advise on import, distribution and sales requirements of specific goods, such as Federal Trade Commission Registered Number requirements for foreign manufacturers importing textiles into the US and “Listed Chemicals” controlled by the Drug Enforcement Agency.
• Advise on responses to US International Trade Commission (ITC) questionnaires related to import of products subject to anti-dumping/countervailing duty investigations.

Supply Chain Security

• Advise on foreign adversary supply chain security requirements under the BIS Information and Communications Technology and Services (ICTS) Rule and other supply chain restrictions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
• Develop policies and procedures for federal contractors to comply with restrictions of use of certain Chinese-made technology under NDAA Sec. 889.

Representative Investigations

• Conducted internal investigations for financial institutions related to apparent violations of Russia/Ukraine sanctions arising from transactions processed through blocked Russian banks.
• Represented multi-national semi-conductor company in response to grand jury subpoena and inquiries from the Department of Justice and the BIS about EAR and sale of computer chips to eastern European country.
• Conducted internal investigation for global manufacturing company of potential EAR violations related to interactions with companies on BIS Entity List.