International Trade
Leader
International Trade
Director
Customs Law
Clark Hill helps domestic and international companies with all aspects of the laws and regulations governing international commerce.
We represent a variety of companies in the international trade community, including importers, exporters, customs brokers, freight forwarders, sureties, insurance companies, and transportation companies. Our diverse client base affords us a broad perspective that enables us to develop creative and effective solutions to our clients’ issues.
We regularly deal with matters involving:
- Tariff classification of imported merchandise
- Customs valuation, including related party concerns, dutiability of royalties, and applicability of the first sale concept
- Eligibility of products for tariff treatment under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other special regimes and agreements (Generalized System of Preferences, African Growth and Opportunity Act, Central America Free Trade Agreement, US-Israel Free Trade Agreement, etc.)
- Designing and implementing compliance programs for importers and customs brokers
- Customs audits
- Customs recordkeeping requirements
- Customs penalties
- Customs broker issues, including licensing, compliance, penalties, defense of claims, and related matters
- Copyright and trademark issues
- Country of origin determinations and marking questions
- C-TPAT enrollment and advice
- Special tariff provisions such as American goods assembled abroad and articles exported for repairs or alterations
- Bonded warehouses/Foreign-Trade Zones
- Quotas and visas
- Drawback
- Import compliance matters and penalty cases involving other partner government agencies such as FDA, EPA, DOT, TSA
Experience
Represented a U.S. distributor of chemicals for criminal violations of the provisions of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer
Represented a Chinese producer of citric acid in an investigation under the U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty laws
Represented an Iraqi architectural and construction firm in its negotiations with the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers related to Iraqi reconstruction and development initiatives
Represent a U.S. durable goods producer / importer / exporter in a foreign criminal and parliamentary investigation of sales of goods to a foreign government-backed entity
Wall off” advice to a German corporation employing U.S. Persons abroad in its dealings with embargoed-nation customers
Represent a U.S. producer of household goods in the drafting, lobbying and enactment of federal legislation designed to obtain reduced-duty treatment
Represent a U.S. importer/retailer in claims for the refund of duties under the drawback law
Represent two European-based automobile importer / distributors in audits of customs duty liability
Represented a class of claimants regarding currency seized under bulk cash smuggling provisions of the U.S.A. Patriot Act
Represented a computer components importer in parallel criminal and civil proceedings for avoiding customs duties and filing false customs entries of computer components from Singapore
Represented an importer of chemicals from Europe in parallel civil and criminal investigations of allegations of violations of the country of origin marking rules
Represented a foreign producer of medical devices and its CEO in an allegation of importation of allegedly mismarked and misbranded medical devices under both the Tariff Act and the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetics Act
A U.S. citizen in connection with the importation of smuggled artifacts from looted Iraqi museums
Represented two U.S. automotive importer/distributors in claims for refunds under the customs value code based upon post entry downward adjustments to their transfer prices
Represented a Taiwanese producer of fashion ribbons in an investigation under the U.S. antidumping laws
Represented a U.S. importer of medical waste bags to determine whether its goods were within the scope of an antidumping duty order on polyethylene retail carrier bags from the People’s Republic of China
