What's the best way to speed up
your company's export process and reduce costs? According to
a survey conducted by IOMA's Report on Managing Exports,
two-thirds of survey respondents replied that an investment
in export software "improved the accuracy and timeliness
of shipping documents."
The January 2004 issue of the Report
lists the top six strategies for streamlining export administration
and costs. Installing an export documentation and compliance
software solution like Shipping Solutions was the most popular
response given by export professionals responding to the survey.
Respondents indicated that export software
saves their company money, improves their documentation accuracy,
and simultaneously improved their export compliance—an
extremely important consideration in this new world of export
enforcement.
The other five top answers to the survey were
changing or working more closely with freight forwarders; working
more closely with international sales and credit staff; using
the Internet to increase department efficiency; renegotiating
shipping, freight and insurance fees; and expanding or establishing
new channels of international distribution.
To find out more about IOMA's Report on
Managing Exports, visit their website at www.ioma.com.
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If your company hasn't yet started
using the new U.S. Census Bureau Shipper's Export Declaration
(SED) form introduced in October 2003, you only have a couple
days left to make the switch. Beginning January 18, 2004, U.S.
Customs and Border Protection will reject the old version of
the form and advise exporters that they failed to submit an
SED.
Even this new SED has a limited shelf life.
Companies that ship products on the Commerce Department’s
Commerce Control List (CCL) or the State Department’s
U.S. Munitions List (USML) were required to begin filing their
SED information electronically through the Automated Export
System (AES) on October 18, 2003. The paper SED is scheduled
to be eliminated for all other U.S. exporters on April 24, 2004,
when it will be replaced by AES.
Whenever the paper SED is completely replaced
by AES, the exemptions for value and non-licensed exports to
Canada will remain in place.
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By Catherine J. Petersen email
| bio
Exporters and importers should do some light
housekeeping to make sure they remain in compliance with U.S.
export and import regulations. By following a few simple steps
at the beginning of every new year, you will ensure that your
company meets the best industry practices while putting you on
track to full export and import compliance.
I recommend exporters and importers complete
the following checklist:
-
Check the U.S.
Customs and Border Protection website for recent changes
that will affect your company's importing and/or exporting.
-
Update your import policy with your Customs
House Broker, legal counsel and import staff.
-
Check the Bureau
of Industry and Security's website for recent changes
that may affect your company's exporting.
-
Update export policy with legal counsel
and export staff.
-
Download and review the list of obsolete
Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) Numbers and Schedule
B Numbers. The HTS Numbers are used by exporters and importers
and the Schedule B Numbers are used by exporters to classify
your export and/or import products.
-
Verify that the HTS Numbers your Customs
House Brokers and Freight Forwarders use for your products
are current by providing them with a complete list of numbers
and product or item numbers and descriptions. You'll find
the current list of HTS Numbers at the U.S.
International Trade Commission website.
-
Update all your relevant databases or systems
as well as documentation that references the HTS or Schedule
B Numbers including your import entries, NAFTA Certificates
of Origin, and Shipper's Export Declarations (SEDs) or their
electronic equivalent filed with the Automated Export System
(AES). You'll find an updated list of Schedule B Numbers at
the U.S.
Census website. This year's updates include several changes
to the correct unit of measure for some numbers. You need
to update these as well or your filing through AES will be
rejected.
-
Review and update other procedures as determined
by your company.
It usually works best if your company assembles
a team to select and update your HTS and/or Schedule B Numbers.
You might want to include your Customs House Broker, freight forwarder,
export/import legal counsel, international customer service, and
an in-house product engineer or technical expert on your team.
The Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S. is
the parent document of the Schedule B Code Book. If you are both
an importer and an exporter or an exporter who issues the NAFTA
Certificate of Origin, then you should use the HTS Numbers. If
your company only exports and you don't issue a NAFTA Certificate,
then the Schedule B Numbers will suffice.
Once you've completed this checklist, it's another
one of your New Year's resolutions that you can successfully cross
off your list!
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By Joe Robinson email
| bio
Trim down the cost of business travel. Lessen
the time needed for distant meetings. Conserve wear and tear on
your body. Eliminate jet lag. Circumvent exposure to SARS and
other perilous diseases. Reduce exposure to terrorist activities.
Increase your staff’s productive attributes and abilities
to grow your business. Save money. Enable yourself to make more
meetings in a given time period than you thought possible. Negotiate
more effectively and faster than your competitors.
How can you take advantage of so many positive
attributes for your company or organization? You may wish to evaluate
and incorporate videoconferencing techniques as a viable business
procedure that could help you achieve more for less.
Videoconferencing is currently taking on increasing
significance in business meetings, especially when attendees must
travel long distances and across international borders.
Problems that existed with the technology in
the past are rapidly being overcome. Both software and equipment
gains make videoconferencing a viable business tool that enable
even small and medium-sized companies to realize a positive return
on investment from the technology.
While videoconferencing technology has been available
for many years, it was often expensive, technically challenging
and often unreliable. This host of frustrating problems gave videoconferencing
a less than bright image.
Today, however, major changes in videoconferencing
technology have made it cheaper, easier, more reliable and more
secure.
Anyone who remembers using email in 1993 will
recall how difficult it was under the old DOS computer operating
system. When we asked the president of the company I worked for
at that time to allow us to install email in the company, he flatly
rejected the idea.
Many of the early email problems experienced
10 years ago are similar to the types of problems that companies
previously encountered with videoconferencing. Within the past
two or three years, however, there have been tremendous strides
in improving videoconferencing. As the technology continues to
improve and the costs continue to come down, analysts predict
that videoconferencing will become just as commonplace as email.
Is the climate right for you and your company
to acquire and utilize videoconferencing? It really depends on
the numbers. If your company or organization does a lot of traveling
to conduct meetings, negotiations and technical/management discussions
where dialogue is important, then you probably should make an
evaluation of the costs and benefits of videoconferencing.
Today, there is an emerging culture using videoconferencing
beyond the traditional marketing and sales departments. Purchasing,
engineers, production, research, accounting and even human resources
departments are increasingly beginning to use videoconferencing.
Videoconferencing will never completely replace
face-to-face meetings, but it will alter the frequency and necessity
of physical meetings. For example, instead of routinely going
to Europe six times per year, videoconferencing could perhaps
enable a monthly videoconference meeting to be augmented by actually
traveling to Europe once every six months.
Today, 75% of commercial videoconferencing is
international. Due to the lingering worldwide recession, companies
and organizations are forced to find ways to save money, doing
things more effectively and differently to produce better and
faster results.
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Thousands of successful exporters are using Shipping
Solutions to complete their export documents faster, easier and
less expensively than ever before. Why aren't you?
If you're too busy trying to complete your export
documents by hand to spend some time reviewing the Shipping Solutions
Professional export documentation and compliance software yourself,
let us do it for you! Sign
up for one of our free online
demos and let us give you a one-hour overview of the software.
We'll take you step-by-step through the process
of completing your export forms, filing your SEDs electronically
through AES, and checking your exports against the various government
restricted parties lists and export regulations to make sure your
shipments are in compliance, and you—and your company—stay
out of trouble.
These free online demos are available
on Tuesday's at 1:00 Central Time. All you need is an Internet
connection to watch the demo and a phone to listen in and ask
questions about the software. It's the perfect opportunity to
get your first view of Shipping Solutions or to convince your
coworkers and your boss that Shipping Solutions is the perfect
solution for your company.
See why Shipping Solutions is America's
#1 export software. Sign
up for the free online demo today!
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