Where Have the Blog Articles Gone? We’ve Moved!

News, resources, and more have been moved to our websites and you can find our great content on these two platforms.  The first is our website for the Clark-Esposito Law Firm, P.C. under the "News & Resources" tab.  Here you will find trade and transportation related news along with that typically for the more experienced fashion enterprise.

The second is our website for Fashion Compliance.  The "News & How To's" section centers on the issues the fashion entrepreneur is primarily focused on, which tend to be less complicated matters than the experienced fashion company would likely deal with. That being said, I've seen more experienced companies not have its bases covered with respect to any number of fashion compliance issues, so I encourage and welcome everyone to read on at the other sites!

 

As always, we welcome you to send us any questions you may have via our Contact pages on the websites or email us directly at contact@clarkespositolaw.com.

Thanks and we'll see you on our new platforms!

Kenya’s New Customs Rule Mandates Certificate of Conformity When Importing

Kenya now requires a certificate of conformity known as the Pre-Export Verification of Conformity, (or “PVoC") which is required for customs clearance on every importation of finished goods.  The only exceptions to this rule are

     1)     Raw materials for processing into Finished Products

     2)     Spare parts for own use by a manufacturer, and

     3)     Customized machinery not meant for sale.

It should be noted that where an exception is purported as applicable, additional support would be required to substantiate the applicability of the exception.

The PVoC must be available upon a shipments arrival to Kenya.  Where it arrives without the PVoC, or where it is issued with a date later than the shipment’s arrival, it will be presumed that the procedures for the pre-export verification were not followed and the importer will automatically be assessed a 15% penalty on the CIF value.  They will be further required to post a redeemable bond of a similar amount pending the import’s quality verification.

Both the Kenya Revenue Authority and Kenya Bureau of Standards (“KEBS”) have oversight of this new rule, the latter for which administers the “Pre-Export Verification of Conformity to Standards” program for exports to Kenya.  As the purpose is to minimize the risk of unsafe and substandard goods entering the Kenyan market by ensuring that products meet the health, safety and environmental standards for Kenyans, non-compliant goods will be denied entry.

What does this change mean?

In order to avoid delays in the issuance of the PVoC, exporters should contact an authorized verification company as early as possible as it is mandated to be undertaken in the country of origin.  If your company anticipates future exports to Kenya, identifying an appropriate location is a smart way to avoid potential additional delays when it comes time to ship your product.

The companies Société Générale de Surveillance (“SGS”), Intertek International, Messrs Bureau Veritas, and the China Certification and Inspection Group have all been contracted by KEBS to perform the pre-export verifications.  Keep in mind however, that each verifier is assigned certain regions for which it may carry out the verification - as opposed to having a general right for inspecting products originating from any part of the world - so finding an approved one for your region is a prudent first step.

Contacting the local branch of any of these companies where the product is located should be the first step to determine whether it can perform the verification, or if another company should be contacted.

Next Steps

This requirement which previously applied to only a limited class of goods now applies to all finished goods.  If you are uncertain as to how to obtain the PVoC on your current or anticipated Kenya bound shipments, or seek guidance on whether your product may meet one of the exceptions, post your questions/comments below or email clark.deanna@gmail.com.

Tips for the New Exporter Expanding in to the U.S. Market

This article was written for UK Trade and Investment to provide some tips to new UK exporters selling through the platform "Newegg" for delivery to your average American household.

Think being small means you don’t matter?  Think again!

All shipments arriving from outside of the United States pass through US Customs and the last thing you want to be is a company who is on their list of foreign suppliers to pay attention to.

You further don't want to be the supplier that creates a problem for your U.S. buyer as it could destroy your relationship with the buyer as well as harm your reputation and detract others from buying from you.

You therefore want to have your "ducks in order" with regards to legal compliance of the products you're selling into the US market, even if you're doing so in small quantities.

 Here are 5 tips to help you do that:

1) Recognize that the law applies to those who are selling and even offering to sell in the U.S.

·       That means that even if you have not sold anything, just by virtue of offering the merchandise for sale, it requires compliance with US laws.

·       Keep in mind that each shipment adds to your supplier profile with US Customs.  Though you may start out with “Newegg,” as your business expands your shipments to the U.S. will grow too and your sales here form a part of your export history recorded with U.S. Customs.

2) Understand that many of the products you want to sell may require testing and certification as to compliance with the U.S. law(s) over that category.  For example:

• ·      The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has oversight of many of these laws and you can go to www.cpsc.gov to learn more about how their rules might apply to your products, including toys and other children’s products

• ·      The US Food and Drug Administration has oversight of many food, health and beauty products, including cosmetics

• ·      The US Federal Trade Commission has oversight of clothing and home fashions, as well as marketing claims which may be placed on packaging or temporary labels 

3) Remember that compliance with these laws is required prior to its importation into the U.S.

• ·      While you may think of yourself as “just a seller,” if you’re selling to an individual, remember that they are relying on you to sell them a safe product that complies with U.S. law

• ·      If you’re selling to a reseller, or are trying to sell to one, then they may request from you proof of your compliance with U.S. laws, so you’ll need to have your conformity certificates in order to provide them to those vendors relying on you. 

4) Product compliance aside, there are import protocols which must be complied with such as the proper marking and valuation of the product, as well as invoicing so that US customs can asses the appropriate amount of duties on that particular product.

5) Remember, even though a shipment which has a value not exceeding $200 can enter the U.S. free of duties and other taxes, the marking, valuation, invoicing and product compliance rules all still apply and again, all of these must be correctly done when you (the exporter) ship your product out for export.

• ·       A watch for example, not only has multiple requirements in terms of marking different parts of it with its country of origin information, declaring a watch’s value is overly complicated and so both the physical stamping of the watch parts as well as the invoice need to be prepared in such a way that it meets US Customs regulatory compliance standards.

Questions/comments?  Post below or email Deanna at clark.deanna@gmail.com

Learn more at www.fashioncompliance.com or

Tweet us @fashcompliance on www.twitter.com or

I’m a Small Business. Does This Law Apply to Me Too?

My startups and smaller clients love to ask me this question. 

The answer to “Does size matter?” is for the most part pretty consistent, which is, “It depends!”

 It depends because even though there may be definitions of what a small business is, when the government puts out a new regulation, or an amendment to one, it may reason that because such new changes will have a limited impact on small businesses, that providing an exception for small businesses to compliance with the new rules is unnecessary.

Let’s take the recent amendments to the regulations for the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act (“the Rules”) as an example.

Under the Small Business Size Standards issued by the Small Business Administration, textile apparel manufacturers qualify as small businesses if they have 500 or fewer employees. 

Clothing wholesalers qualify as small businesses if they have 100 or fewer employees.

 The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) staff estimated that approximately 22,218 textile fiber product manufacturers and importers are covered by the disclosure requirements of these amended Rules.

While the FTC figured that a substantial number of these entities likely qualify as small businesses, it concluded that the amendments would not have a significant impact on small businesses because they do not impose any significant new obligations on them.

The FTC therefore, did not propose any specific small entity exception or other significant alternatives as it did not find it necessary to minimize the compliance burden, if any, on small entities while achieving the intended purposes of the amendments.

What do you think? Should smaller businesses be subject to less rigorous compliance requirements?

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

US Customs New Freedom of Information Act Portal – What Do You Want to Know?

I want answers.  US Customs apparently wants to give them to me too, as it sent me a lovely email to register as a user of its new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) portal called “FOIA Online.”

In terms of registration I’d give it a thumbs up for “User Experience” as it was very simple to do and it’s quite nice looking as well.  While I haven’t experienced the benefits first hand, U.S. Customs touts them as, and I quote:

* You will immediately receive a unique FOIA tracking number and acknowledgment that your FOIA request was received by CBP.

* You will be able to track your FOIA request any day/any time through your FOIAonline account.

* You will receive an email to retrieve responsive records or document via your FOIAonline account, when records or documents become available.

* You can view all of your historical FOIA requests via the “dashboard” in your FOIAonline account.

WOW!

Sound good to you?

Want to give it a try? 

Head over to FOIAonline and check it out for yourself.

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

ciao ciao!

“Can I Get Caught Too?” Er… Yes You Can!

People ask me all the time, “Do you really think I could get caught selling a product that is in violation of a U.S. law?  I’m such a small company, could I really be on anyone’s radar?”

My answer inevitably is “Yes,” that you don’t need to be a “big fish” to get hit with big penalties resulting from multiple violations (they rarely hit you with one).

Moreover, if you are importing violative products, you could end up being penalized by not just one federal agency but two (think tens-of-thousands-of-dollars…)

Taking children’s wearing apparel as an example, in the last 30 days there have been 7 recalls by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, including 1 announced just yesterday! 

They were recalled for either: 

-  failing to meet the federal flammability standard,

-       - posing a choking hazard, or

-       - posing a strangulation hazard.

Specifically, the product recalls were as follows:

1) Children’s Pajamas, recalled by the Bailey Boys – Flammability (sold at children’s boutique stores nationwide)

2) Wearever Girl’s Hooded Jacket Sets, recalled by David’s Place – Strangulation (sold exclusively at Burlington Coat Factory stores)

3) Girls’ BCG Hooded Windsuits, recalled by Academy Sports + Outdoors – Strangulation (sold exclusively at Academy Sports + Outdoors stores and its website)

4) Girls’ Pink Leopard Jackets, recalled by Ram’s Imports – Strangulation (sold exclusively at Burlington Coat Factory stores)

5) Yoki Girls Faux Leather Jackets with Drawstrings, recalled by Mirage Fashions – Stangulation (sold exclusively at Burlington Coat Factory stores)

6) Infant Sandals, recalled by American Boy and Girl – Choking Hazard (sold exclusively at Meijer stores)

7) Hooded Sweatshirts, recalled by Little Willy’s – Strangulation (sold exclusively at Zullily.com and Gilt.com stores)

Consumers should immediately take the recalled product away from children and return them to the store they purchased it from for a full refund.

As for the seller, not only does getting caught typically mean heavy penalties, but a product recall is disruptive to business (stay tuned for a future article on this as changes to the rules are being considered), can hurt your business relationships, and can tarnish your reputation.

And who wants that to happen?  Not you, and not me either.

Questions/comments?  Post below or email me at clark.deanna@gmail.com

Keep Up With Me:

On Twitter @fashcompliance

On Facebook  www.facebook.com/FashionCompliance (*like* the page to get our updates)

On YouTube  www.youtube.com/FashionCompliance

Fashion Compliance Begins Here

FASHION COMPLIANCE

Fashion Compliance begins here too, with certified non-flammable threads that turn into fabrics that are safe to wear and live in. Are you certified?

Questions/comments?  Post below or email me at fashioncompliance@gmail.com

Keep up with me:

On Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/FashionCompliance 

On YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/fashioncompliance

On Twitter @fashcompliance  https://twitter.com/fashcompliance

Building an Effective Internal Compliance Program

Whether it’s spelled out on a single page or makes up an entire manual, a basic compliance program is one where there are internal controls and procedures that implement compliance measures for those laws and regulations an entity must abide by in the day-to-day operation of the business.

Having an effective program is strengthened when there is a culture of accountability in which individuals understand the concept of compliance and their part within the compliance chain.

To be an effective compliance program internal controls and procedures need to be actively implemented and revised with key personnel updated on changes in practices.

 Not only is US Customs interested in seeing an importer’s compliance procedures when being audited or upon application to a voluntary program such as C-TPAT (Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism) or ISA (Importer Self Assessment), but it can also play a role in the mitigation of penalties when incidents occur that give rise to such assessments.

Be sure to put together a compliance program that fits your organization, implement it and update it regularly throughout the year.

Top compliance risks should be identified with resources allocated to address them accordingly. A common area of risk for an importer is that within its supply chain. Mitigation of risk can occur by an importer actually knowing where it’s cargo is coming from, who the actual supplier is and where the imported merchandise is going to.

Sounds simple (I know…) but these transactions are not always as clear cut as they would seem at face value.

 Some factors that can make a compliance program appear to be a failure include

·         A failure to tailor and update the program

·         Insufficient training and follow through of personnel

·         Inconsistent enforcement of internal procedures, and

·         An inadequate compliance culture

Questions/comments? Post below or email me at clark.deanna@gmail.com