Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Our Fashion Protection Webinar Voted a Top 25 Resource in 2015 by SCORE
Our “Fashion Protection: Trademark Basics and Fashion
Compliance” webinar was voted as one of the Top 25 Resources in 2014 by the
U.S. Small Business Association’s “SCORE” program!
In case you missed it, you can access it here
at no charge: http://bit.ly/1voKJZW
Questions/comments? Post below or email me at clark.deanna@gmail.com
On Twitter @fashcompliance
Monday, December 22, 2014
Registration Open for 2015 Africa Trade Conference
Next Fall will be the Trade Winds Business Development Conference in South Africa from Sept. 16 -18, 2015
Leading up to this event, there will be an eight-part webinar series to prepare participating U.S. companies for a more successful experience during the upcoming Trade Winds - Africa Trade Mission.
As
explained on the U.S. Commercial Services website, U.S. trade to and from
Africa has tripled over the past decade and U.S. exports to Sub-Saharan Africa
now top $21 billion. Africa is home to 7
out of the 10 fastest-growing markets in the world.
The
International Monetary Fund projects Sub-Saharan Africa to grow between 5 and 6
percent each year over the next two years.
Whether
your company is new to this region or is looking to tap into new markets, this
is the ideal launching point for expansion throughout the region. The conference portion will be hosted in
South Africa, during which time you can:
· Participate in a focused
business development conference, highlighting opportunities and challenges in
this extremely dynamic region
· Attend high-visibility business
networking events with leading industry and government officials
· Meet
one-on-one with top African business experts from the U.S. Embassies
and Consulates from the region for the latest trade leads and market
entry strategies
· Find a partner or customer
through screened business-to-business meetings in Angola, Ghana, Mozambique,
South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania
In addition, you can increase your benefit
by adding one or more additional participating countries to your itinerary. With increasing efforts by ACTIF and other textile partners, this is a conference the fashion industry may well want to attend. To learn more about it, click on the links above.
Questions/comments?
Post below or email me at clark.deanna@gmail.com
On Twitter @fashcompliance
Friday, December 12, 2014
Ambassador Froman’s Updates on TPP, T-TIP and Support for Greater US Exports
Last week I was privy to a discussion with the U.S. Trade
Representative Michael Froman on international trade and in particular, the
state of two trade agreements currently being negotiated, namely the Trans-Pacific
Partnership (“TPP”) and the Trans Atlantic Trade Partnership (“T-TIP”).
More info. on TPP can be found at http://www.ustr.gov/tpp
More info. on T-TIP can be found at http://www.ustr.gov/ttip
Whether you like it or not, negotiations continue to advance
on both the T-TIP and TTP as the government’s position steadfastly remains that
through trade agreements, foreign markets are opened up allowing for increased
sales of US products.
As described by Ambassador Froman, only 1% of small and
medium sized businesses throughout the nation export. The government wants to streamline procedures
to enable them to engage in greater export sales, including via e-commerce,
since over 90% of exporters are small and medium sized businesses, out of about
a total of 300,000 exporting companies.
Export related jobs pay 13% to 18% more than non-export jobs.
In addition to export increases, other benefits cited
include an ability to create “rules of the road” on things we (in the United
States) care about, including environmental and intellectual property
protections, as well as “leveling the playing field” with respect to worker’s rights.
Ambassador Froman further highlighted the benefits of the “InformationTechnology Agreement” expansion talks which had been postponed for a year but apparently will
support 60,000 new U.S. jobs, in addition to the new "Trade Facilitation Agreement" between
India and the US, which will reduce the costs of trade and other procedures by
10% for developing countries and 14% for developed ones.
Questions/comments?
Post below or email me at clark.deanna@gmail.com
On Twitter @fashcompliance
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Ever Wonder How USPS Handles Exports and Imports?
I had the pleasure of seeing first
hand how the US Postal Service (USPS) handles imports and exports by air in to and out
of its Kennedy (JFK) airport location in Jamaica, New York during a recent tour
I took there.
Regarding imports, USPS receives about
400 air containers per day from all over the world. It has an International Mail Agreement which standardizes
by code mail equivalents worldwide and streamlines the processing of incoming
mail. Mail passes under an infrared
scanner that verifies receipt of the packages into the US mail system and
reconciles payments at such time. Of
course, there is always mail for which an address cannot be read, a package’s
integrity has been compromised, or some other reason necessitating the need for
manual processing, so there is a dedicated area for doing this as well.
E-commerce and E-bay sales make up a
huge portion of total imports by mail into the U.S. in what are known as “E-packets,” and to my surprise I saw some itty-bitty packages that identified the contents as clothing, a dress specifically, as it needed to be identified for customs purposes. All I could think was, "this must be a really small dress!" Or not a dress, obviously...
In fact, 5 Million “E-packet” packages come from China and South Korea every month. Wow!
US Customs is, of course, present for
cargo inspections and not only are agents walking around the floor to check and
even open up questionable mail, Customs likewise has its own dedicated and
restricted space for conducting larger inspections on flagged shipments.
Regarding mail destined for foreign
locales, i.e., exports, they arrive into the “Business Mail Entry Unit,” where commercial
shipments have been delivered by bulk mail providers like “Asendia,” and the
mail gets sorted and then assigned to a flight.
Air carriage services include their International Surface Air Lift
(ISAL) option, which delivers within 7 to 11 business days, the International
Priority Air Lift (IPA) option, which delivers in 4 to 7 business days, or an
Express Air option which delivers in 3 to 5 business days and has a “time-definite”
delivery to certain countries.
It should be noted however, that as not every foreign country has the infrastructure or capabilities to have this capacity, the time definite delivery cannot be offered to all destinations.
The packages themselves are sorted by
destination country and where the volume is very high, such as exports to
Canada, a special section designated specifically for that country is
demarcated. With 3 working shifts a day,
mail is kept moving 24 hours per day amounting to roughly 3 to 4 trailers of
IPA and ISAL mail that gets exported daily.
While packages get placed onto various
air carriers, 99% of air exports travel on a FedEX airplane, with whom USPS has
service contracts and to which they are FedEx’s largest customer.
For more information on exports or
imports with USPS, contact Mr. Kenyatta Adams of the US Postal Service at Kenyatta.A.Adams@usps.gov .
Questions/comments? Post below or email me at
clark.deanna@gmail.com
Keep up with me at www.fashioncompliance.com or:
On Facebook at www.facebook.com/FashionCompliance
On Twitter @fashcompliance
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
AGOA Eligible Countries Keep Benefiting Despite GSP Lapse
Even during the present lapse in the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), US Customs clarified for the trade community today that GSP-eligible imports from African countries eligible under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) continue to benefit from GSP.
As currently legislated, the AGOA remains in effect through September 30, 2015.
Special program indicators (SPIs) denoted by a letter are shown
on the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the US (HTSUS) to indicate under which special
program a product may apply.
The overwhelming majority of AGOA-eligible tariff items in
the HTSUS indicate one of three GSP SPIs, namely “A,”
“A*” or “A+,” and not the AGOA’s SPI “D.”
US Customs requires that the AGOA claim be made
on these GSP-eligible tariff items by prefacing the HTSUS number with the SPI
“A.”
To receive AGOA preference for eligible goods on a
tariff item with the SPI “A,” “A*” or “A+” in the “Special” column of the HTSUS
(and not “D”), importers should transmit the entry summary with the SPI “A” and
without duty.
For further clarification please refer to the AGOA
regulations, 19 CFR 10.178a, and the GSP regulations, 19 CFR 10.171-178.
Questions about this may be directed to
the Trade Agreements Branch at FTA@dhs.gov or to myself by posting below or emailing me at clark.deanna@gmail.com
On Twitter @fashcompliance
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Online Resources for Fashion Compliance and Fashion Law
Are you looking for more fashion law information related to
your fashion compliance obligations?
Here is a list of resources to help you learn more about what’s
required for you to do the right thing and avoid getting hit by penalties for
wrongdoing. We have many other articles in our blog that we invite you to peruse through as well.
Be advised that while we are providing this information and it may be considered guidance, we are not guaranteeing that any of the rules, regulations or protocols stated in these publications and resources are current (in fact portions of it are outdated as you will see since these laws frequently are amended, but it is what the government has published and is therefore, publicly available), still applicable, or should be considered as legal advice.
It is always recommended to have legal counsel review
anything you have put together to ensure you are actually complying with the
law.
MARKETING CLAIMS
Are you telling the
truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth when it comes to your
product descriptions made in advertisements, whether in print or online? Perhaps, you’re stretching the truth???
Whatever the case may be, be advised that truthful marketing
statements and non-deceptive advertising are highly regulated areas. To learn more about what you can and can’t
do, check out these links here:
GREEN MARKETING
(“ECO-FRIENDLY”)
Part of the sustainable fashion movement? Are your products “Eco-friendly?” If they are, kudos to you! We are absolutely for the advancement of
products that could be considered “sustainable fashion.”
As a warning, however, the government has strict rules on
what can be claimed as “green” and even requires proof to substantiate any
claims made. Watch the video on their
website and find more information on this at this link here:
MADE IN USA
We make excellent products here in the U.S. and if you want to have the privilege of
labeling your products with the statement “Made in USA,” you better darn well
make sure that it was all or virtually made here in the USA. While this may sound relatively
straightforward, this can get complicated when some components have been imported
despite the manufacture of the final product being fabricated here in the
US. It’s complexity further rises when a
company wants it’s goods to qualify under the Buy American Act or to sell to
the government, which has its own criteria regarding products claiming to be
Made in USA.
For more on Made in USA disclosures, check out this page
here.
CLOTHING LABELS
Believe it or not, figuring out the proper way to state
required disclosures on clothing can get complicated fast when what you are
selling is either imported in to the USA, made in the USA but of foreign
components, or made up of US originating components that are assembled into a
finished product abroad. This is because
there are overlapping laws that apply to clothes under these circumstances.
It becomes further complicated if you are using recycled
materials, unknown fibers or miscellaneous scraps. Since there is so much misinformation out
there on this subject, we invite you to contact us with any questions related
to this subject.
IMPORTING
To put it mildly, importing laws are a beast unto
themselves. Nuances from fiber blends,
to articles sold as sets, to importing second hand clothes all raise specific
issues in relation to product classification, labeling, how it is marked and its
value determination.
US Customs Informed Compliance Publications cover a wealth
of subjects from apparel classification, to fiber trade names, to importing
basics. They all give you a head start
on how to do the right thing in terms of importing in to the US.
For these subjects, how to take advantage of money saving
opportunities through the trade agreements, and more, check out this link.
EXPORTING / E-COMMERCE
“This is not your parent’s post office.” -- Anonymous, USPS Corporate Office Employee
Don’t be fooled by what the U.S. Postal Service used to be,
it currently provides the market’s share of shipping for e-commerce, and has
been steadily expanding its reach to new corners of the globe to better serve
you the merchant. Have a look at its international services through the link here.
TESTING
Many tests required under the apparel laws must be done by a
test laboratory certified by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. While approved by a US agency, they labs may
nonetheless be outside of the US. To
search for a lab near you, check out this link here:
LAW SCHOOLS WITH A FASHION LAW TWIST
The following is a list of law schools that have either a Fashion
Law course, have hosted a “Fashion Symposium,” or have a “Fashion Club” on
campus.
- New York Law School
- Loyola Law School
- Fordham Law School
- Southwestern Law School
- University of Virginia School of Law
- Cardozo Law School
- New York University
- New England Law
- The John Marshall Law School
- Brooklyn Law School
- Hastings Law School
- Charlotte School of Law
- St. John’s University School of Law
- Touro Law School
- Howard University School of Law
- University of Southern California
Have questions or comments on fashion compliance and/or fashion law? Feel free to connect with us!
Tweet us @fashcompliance on Twitter or
Email us at clark.deanna@gmail.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)