August 2010 | Customs & International Trade Law Blog

Forbidden Places for Tourism and Trade

Please make plans to attend the Forbidden Places -- Tourism and Trade seminar on September 24, 2010. This seminar will take place at the J.W. Marriott Hotel, Miami, Florida. This half-day seminar will address a variety of recent regulations administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Topics to be addressed include travel to and trade with restricted countries, immigration aspects of tourism to sanctioned countries, and representing a client who is the subject of an investigation or penalty by the OFAC.

By Jennifer Diaz|2010-08-30T20:35:16-04:00August 30, 2010|Events, U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)|3 Comments

Caviar and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is responsible for regulating and managing the export and sale of paddlefish roe (caviar). To obtain a paddlefish roe export permit, an applicant must establish that it properly harvested the roe, and that its export would not undermine the survival of the species. But what happens when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has had the application for months, and has taken no action on it?

By Jennifer Diaz|2010-08-27T09:37:42-04:00August 27, 2010|U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)|Comments Off

FDA Import Alerts for Seafood

Americans are constantly bombarded with warnings that the seafood we eat is contaminated with salmonella, listeria, or some other antibiotic, fungicide, or microorganism that will make us sick. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is taking more samples of imported seafood, holding more seafood for laboratory analysis, and rejecting more seafood than in past years. That is true of basa from Vietnam, crabmeat from Indonesia, and a variety of seafood from countries as far away as China, or as close to the United States as the Bahamas.

By Jennifer Diaz|2010-08-23T06:23:57-04:00August 23, 2010|Import, Import Alert|Comments Off

Maersk Pays $3 Million for Trading With Iran and Sudan

Maerk Line, Ltd. paid the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) $3 million to settle allegations of violations of the U.S. trade embargo with Sudan and Iran that Maersk committed between 2003 and 2007. How the world's largest ocean transportation company committed such violations is a good story. How Maersk's lawyer was able to limit the payment to $3 million is also important to understand.

By Jennifer Diaz|2010-08-16T06:37:51-04:00August 16, 2010|U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)|Comments Off

FDA To Inspect Foreign Food Facilities Starting October 1, 2010

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued notices to foreign food facilities registered with the FDA that it will conduct an inspection of those facilities between October 1, 2010 and September 30, 2011. Foreign food facilities that manufacturer, process, pack, hold, and ship food to the United States must have registered with the FDA pursuant to the Bioterrorism Act. Foreign food facilities that do not properly respond to the FDA notices will result in a detention of any food that arrives in the United States from those canceled facilities.

By Jennifer Diaz|2010-08-11T19:34:53-04:00August 11, 2010|Food, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)|1 Comment

U.S. Customs Inflates Seizure Statistics

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is one of the leading Federal agencies responsible for stopping counterfeit products from entering the United States. These counterfeit products vary from sunglasses to handbags to pharmaceuticals to footwear. But U.S. Customs' press releases almost always use an unrealistic, inflated number when describing the value of the seized merchandise.

By Jennifer Diaz|2010-08-10T07:11:59-04:00August 10, 2010|Counterfeits|2 Comments