This Memorial Day marks 35 years since Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets, passed away. Among his many accomplishments, the Muppets were essential to the creation of the longest-running children’s television show, “Sesame...more
Our previous article on What Every Multinational Company Should Know About … Customs Enforcement and False Claims Act Risks (Part I) outlined how import-related risks have substantially increased given the combination of the...more
As detailed in our prior article on “What Every Multinational Company Should Know About … The Rising Risk of Customs False Claims Act Actions in the Trump Administration,” the Department of Justice (DOJ) is encouraging the...more
4/10/2025
/ Customs and Border Protection ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Imports ,
International Trade ,
Multinationals ,
Penalties ,
Risk Management ,
Settlement ,
Tariffs
So, a lot of readers — well, a couple of people . . . okay, one person, and it might have been my mom — have asked for a third Christmas compliance parody article. And since we are nothing but compliant (sorry, we couldn’t...more
12/19/2024
/ Audits ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Data Breach ,
Enforcement ,
Ethics ,
Fraud ,
Investigations ,
Training
As an accompaniment to our biweekly series on “What Every Multinational Company Should Know About” various international trade, enforcement, and compliance topics, below find an update to our series on compliance checks that...more
We have received several requests to publish a list of red flags pertinent to multinational organizations. To accommodate these requests, we are publishing a three-part series on anticorruption, export controls and economic...more
3/7/2024
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Antiboycott Requirements ,
Billing ,
Compliance ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement ,
Ethical Standards ,
Export Controls ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Multinationals ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Reputation Management ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Mitigation
The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) prioritizes enforcing rules against the use of forced labor and human trafficking. The CBP’s ramped-up enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) is...more
11/28/2023
/ China ,
Code of Conduct ,
Compliance ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Due Diligence ,
Enforcement ,
Entity List ,
Forced Labor ,
Importers ,
International Labor Organization (ILO) ,
Investigations ,
NGOs ,
Supply Chain ,
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) ,
Withhold Release Orders (WROs)
Did you know that whistleblowers can use the False Claims Act to get the U.S. Government to investigate allegations of lost revenue to the U.S. Treasury, including underpaid Customs tariffs? A large importer recently found...more
11/17/2023
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
CAATSA ,
Compliance ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement ,
Export Controls ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Forced Labor ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Human Trafficking ,
Importers ,
International Trade ,
Revenue ,
Russia ,
Whistleblowers
A veritable grab bag of international trade developments to parse this week. Recent developments include increasing FCPA enforcement, a record OFAC economic sanctions penalty, and a large customs penalty for willful failure...more
10/26/2023
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Audits ,
Compliance ,
Customs ,
Duties ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement ,
Financial Institutions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
International Trade ,
Misclassification ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Penalties ,
Valuation
The U.S. Government continues to send compliance messages in a variety of international trade areas. Recent developments include clarifications from the Court of International Trade regarding how country of origin is to be...more
10/16/2023
/ Anti-Dumping Duty ,
Compliance ,
Countervailing Duties ,
Court of International Trade ,
Customs ,
Enforcement ,
Export Controls ,
Forced Labor ,
Human Trafficking ,
International Trade ,
Supply Chain ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
US Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA)
Agility and resiliency remain essential attributes for manufacturers in 2023. Manufacturers are no longer focused on figuring out when things will return to “normal.”
Instead, they are applying lessons learned from the...more
7/11/2023
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Best Practices ,
Clawbacks ,
Compensation ,
Compliance ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Enforcement ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Final Rules ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Machine Learning ,
Manufacturers ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Supply Chain
Recent developments include fair warning from the Department of Justice that national security concerns can invade even ordinary business activities, a reminder that the False Claims Act increasingly is being used as a weapon...more
6/22/2023
/ Antitrust Division ,
Compliance ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
International Trade ,
National Security ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
Voluntary Disclosure
Both enforcement agencies and consumers increasingly are focused on manufacturers’ supply chains. Human rights enforcement frameworks increasingly have real teeth. Both the United States and the European Union either have, or...more
6/8/2023
/ Compliance ,
Consumers ,
Country of Origin ,
Due Diligence ,
Enforcement ,
EU ,
Human Rights ,
Manufacturers ,
Modern Slavery Act ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Risk Management ,
Slavery ,
Supply Chain ,
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA)
Did you read this week’s article on supply chain integrity? If so, you won’t be surprised to see this week’s International Trade update includes a timely reminder regarding avoiding the use of forced labor in its supply...more
6/8/2023
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Compliance ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Forced Labor ,
International Trade ,
Jurisdiction ,
Made in the USA ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs
Recent developments include significant antitrust penalties, the issuance of CBP compliance guidance regarding the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, increasing emphasis on economic sanctions, “the new FCPA,” and the...more
5/25/2023
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Anti-Dumping Duty ,
Compliance ,
Cross Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement ,
Export Controls ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
International Trade ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA)
The international trade and regulatory environment never has been more difficult for multinational corporations to navigate. For companies that operate, source from, or sell goods, software, or services across borders, legal...more
5/11/2023
/ Audits ,
Compliance ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Duties ,
Enforcement ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Forced Labor ,
International Trade ,
Penalties ,
Risk Assessment ,
Tariffs
Recent developments include the U.S. government using novel legal theories to expand jurisdiction over banking activities outside the United States, the imposition of hundreds of millions of dollars of penalties on companies...more
...Think your company and its employees are beyond the reach of U.S. authorities? Maybe you don’t have U.S. operations there, or your company isn’t publicly traded on a U.S. stock exchange. Perhaps you don’t directly sell or...more
6/2/2020
/ Anti-Bribery ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Business Operations ,
Conspiracies ,
Copyright ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Exports ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Imports ,
International Trade Commission (ITC) ,
Jurisdiction ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Patents ,
Sherman Act ,
Trademarks
With the Trump administration having put in place the largest export controls penalty of all time, the second-largest economic sanctions/OFAC penalty, and five of the ten largest FCPA penalties, international regulatory risk...more
6/13/2019
/ Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance ,
Due Diligence ,
Enforcement ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
International Trade ,
Multinationals ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Risk Management ,
Supply Chain