Keeping Up-To-Date With The Regulations

Dear Import/Export Compliance Manager,

Part of the difficulty of being a trade compliance professional is knowing all of the rules and in particular when they change related to import and export into and out of the US.  How can I stay on top of things so that I don’t get caught unawares?

Regulated in Rapid City

Dear Regulated,

The Import/Export Compliance Manager feels your pain.  You go through all the time and effort to learn what the regulations are, where to find them, what they really mean and then how to implement a compliance program around them.  Then, just when you think you have finally reached the top of the mountain of knowledge, the regulations change on you!  It’s good that you’re thinking about this in advance.

It must be pointed out, however, that changes in the regulations aren’t necessarily a bad thing; sometimes they can work in your company’s favor.  An example is U.S. export control reform from the 2010s whereby many products moved off of the U.S. Munitions List (USML) onto the Commerce Control List (CCL) in the Export Administration Regulations (EAR).  Other examples include lowered rates of duty, new free trade agreements your company can take advantage of or a new license exception added to the EAR. 

Anyway, how does one stay on top of all of the regulatory changes?  Thankfully, there are several ways: 

The Federal Register.  Every single change to any U.S. government regulation must be documented in the Federal Register for it to become official.  And, thanks to some far-thinking individual or individuals, all changes in the Federal Register can be sent directly to your e-mail.  To get daily updates, visit https://www.federalregister.gov and, under the ‘About This Site’ section, look for the text “Subscribe, via RSS or email, to a search term, a section, an agency or a daily feed of all documents.”

E-mail Alerts: Many law firms, particularly the big ones, have e-mail updates or newsletters concerning regulatory changes.  The granddaddy of them all, at least as far as the Import/Export Compliance Manager is aware, is the monthly update from global firm Baker & McKenzie.  Their archives are currently located here: http://www.bakermckenzie.com/internationaltrade/newsletters/ 

Networking Groups: You are not alone; there are other import/export compliance practitioners out there who have the same worries you do.  Find them in LinkedIn Groups, the International Compliance Professionals’ Association (ICPA) or, if you’re lucky, in your area.  We’re all paranoid we’re doing something wrong and thus love to commiserate and benchmark with others in the same boat. 

LinkedIn: Certain people, among them ex-government officials now working for law firms, will post updates and commentary on LinkedIn.

Conferences: Attend a conference (or two or three).  ICPA has two reasonably-priced and extremely informative ones each year, while BIS has their annual Update conference in July (also fairly reasonably priced).       

Getting Involved: The better a relationship you have with the applicable federal government agency, the higher the likelihood you will know about proposed regulatory changes before they get floated as preliminary rules seeking comment in the Federal Register.  Actually, you can sometimes influence how a rule will be written.  BIS historically has been good at soliciting input, particularly through the Technical Advisory Committees (http://tac.bis.doc.gov).  They recognized that making new rules without input from industry, who know what is really going on out there technology- and market-wise, was counterproductive.  Also, don’t be afraid to call someone from BIS up on the phone for, um, non-sensitive issues.

Such is the world of import/export compliance, where you need to be on your toes to keep up with the changes that could either make your life easier or turn it into a living you-know-what.  Good luck!