INTERNATIONAL TRADE LAW
International Trade Law Articles
Customs classification, export controls, sanctions, and the compliance work that keeps cross-border business moving.
426 articles
How to Comply With U.S. Import Regulations
Complying with U.S. import regulations means meeting the requirements of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and every other federal agency that controls …
How to Comply With US Import Safety Rules
Import safety compliance means proving — before your goods reach the border — that they meet the US product-safety rules enforced by agencies like the CPSC, …
How to Evaluate Your Trade Compliance Program
Evaluating a trade compliance program means testing whether your written policies actually hold up in practice — by pulling real transactions, checking the …
How to File Imports Through CBP's ACE System
In the United States, “automated import systems” means one thing: the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), CBP’s single electronic window …
How to Handle a CBP Customs Audit
A CBP customs audit is a formal review of your import records to confirm you paid the right duties and followed customs law — and the one most importers …
How to Import Chemicals into the U.S. (TSCA)
Importing a chemical into the United States requires a TSCA Section 13 certification filed with Customs at entry — a positive certification that the substance …
How to Import Food Products into the U.S.
Importing food into the United States means the foreign facility must be registered with the FDA, the importer must file Prior Notice before the shipment …
How to Import Textiles into the U.S.
Importing textiles into the United States means meeting four separate requirements: FTC fiber-content and care labeling, CBP country-of-origin marking, CPSC …
How to Join CTPAT: Benefits, Criteria & Steps
CTPAT — the Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism — is a voluntary, no-cost program in which U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) partners with …
How to Manage Customs Bond Issues
A customs bond is a financial guarantee that you will pay U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) the duties, taxes, and fees you owe — and …
How to Manage Import Compliance Risk
Managing import compliance risk means building a reasonable-care program — written procedures for classification, valuation, recordkeeping, and internal review …
How to Prepare for a CBP Customs Audit
Preparing for a customs audit means getting your import records, classifications, and valuations in order before CBP arrives — because in an audit, your …
How to Prepare for a CBP Import Compliance Audit
A CBP import compliance audit is a review of whether you classified, valued, and documented your imports correctly — and being ready for one comes down to …
How to Resolve International Trade Disputes
International trade disputes are resolved through four main mechanisms — negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and litigation — and for most cross-border …
How to Respond to a Customs Seizure or Penalty
If CBP has seized your goods or issued a penalty notice, you are on a clock — usually 30 days from the seizure notice to respond — and missing the deadline can …
How Trade Law Affects the Financial Services Sector
International trade law affects financial services less through tariffs and more through three channels: rules on cross-border market access, the sanctions and …
How Trade Law Affects the Tech Industry
International trade law shapes the tech industry through five main levers: export controls on sensitive technology, tariffs on hardware, intellectual-property …
HS Classification Checklist: How to Classify Goods
Classifying a product under the Harmonized System means working a repeatable sequence: gather the product facts, narrow to the right chapter and heading, apply …
HTS Classification Tools: CROSS, Rulings & More
The most useful HTS classification tools are the ones CBP itself relies on: the official Harmonized Tariff Schedule, the CROSS rulings database, and the binding …
Import & Customs Glossary: Key Terms
Importing comes with an alphabet soup of acronyms and agencies, and several common terms are actually European or international concepts with a different U.S. …
