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.

Argentina's New SIMI System Replaces DJAI Import Process

For those of you exporting to Argentina, you know all too well how challenging customs clearance has been with the required prior approval by the Administración Federal de Ingresos Públicos (AFIP- Argentine Tax and Customs Authority) and the submission of a Sworn Affidavit of Intent to Import, commonly known as the “DJAI.”

As announced at the end of December 2015, the newly ushered in “Sistema Integral de Monitore de Importaciones,” (“SIMI” - Integral System of Import Monitoring), has taken the DJAI’s place as Argentina’s new import verification mechanism. 

Unfortunately, despite the termination of the “DJAI,” a registration for an import license remains required for all imports, under 1 of 2 categories - either an “automatic import license,” or a “non-automatic import license.”  Once obtained, these licenses remains valid for 90 days.

The processing and management of these licenses must now be done via SIMI, whose purpose is to also provide the Argentine government with a simple and transparent way to gather statistical information on imports.

Non-Automatic Import License

A non-automatic import license must be applied for where a shipment requires a prior approval.  What determines whether or not a prior approval is needed turns on whether or not the article is included in the tariff of the Mercosur Common Nomenclature (“MCN”) which includes some, but not all, tariff numbers under the following chapters:

Chapters 28, 29

Chapters 34, 36, 39

Chapter 40, 42, 44, 48, 49

Chapters 51, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59

Chapters 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 68, 69

Chapters 70, 73, 74, 76

Chapters 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 89

Chapter 90, 94, 95, 96

Depending on the product’s tariff number, 1 of 15 different protocols for procuring the license must be undertaken, each of which requires the submission of data related to the goods itself and the exporter.

Automatic Import License

An automatic import license may be applied for where goods do not require a prior approval.  Such application requires providing no less than 14 data points such as country of origin, FOB values, and product information.

What does this change mean?

The new SIMI system should streamline customs clearance into Argentina given the application of the non-automatic import license and the reduction in goods subject to prior approval.

If you export goods to Argentina, be prepared for the possibility that customs may come back asking questions in relation to the values you have provided as Argentina maintains a database of what it considers to be the import value of certain articles based on the history of values recorded by other prior imports of the same kind.  Moreover, in the case of warranty or replacement parts, Argentina does not recognize that these articles have no value but will accept a lower value than that under a traditional sale.

It is therefore important that valuations remain consistent both for customs entry purposes as well as in the event a customs challenge related to the value, and hence the duties and taxes paid to the government, needs to be resolved.

It should be noted that Argentina customs has been known to look to historic import data and customer price lists of third party companies when making a challenge in an effort to collect higher tax and duty revenues. 

Next Steps

Exporting to Argentina and experiencing shorter customs clearance times may be possible with some advance preparation.  If this is something you would like to explore, post your questions and/or comments below. 

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

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