By Joe Robinson email
| bio
If you are exporting from the United States,
you need to familiarize yourself with and understand the U.
S. Bureau of Industry and Security. Known simply as the BIS,
their primary mission is the accurate, consistent and timely
evaluation and processing of licenses for proposed exports and
re-exports of goods and technology from the United States.
The Bureau’s stated objective is to protect
U. S. national security, foreign policy, and economic interests
without imposing undue regulatory burdens on legitimate international
trade. The beginning of their web page states that this is “Where
Industry and Security Intersect.”
Whether you are a new exporter or a long-time
exporter, I recommend that you visit the BIS
website. This site is designed to provide important and
necessary information about export procedures and regulatory
details that individuals and firms need to know before exporting.
This site will also enable you to ascertain if you need an export
license and, if needed, assist you in navigating through the
export licensing process.
BIS is responsible for the regulation of exports
for national security, foreign policy and nonproliferation reasons
and the enforcement of those regulations. BIS is also charged
with administering and enforcing U. S. Antiboycott laws, the
Fastener Quality Act, and the reporting provisions of the Chemicals
Weapons Conventions.
A periodic visit to their site is also recommended
to stay current about “What’s New” and to
be cognizant of changes, additions or modifications to the export
regulations and procedures.
In the Licensing section of the BIS website,
you will find details and explanations on numerous topics and
issues of interest. The first topic, Export
Control Basics, is designed to help people who are new to
exporting and, in particular, new to export controls. The page
provides a basic overview of export regulations and how to use
them.
The BIS website states that they “stand
ready to help firms comply with its regulations while also maintaining
a force of Export Enforcement Special Agents who investigate
possible violations.” Be aware that exporting is a privilege,
not a right. Compliance with export regulations is not an option—it
is the law.
A BIS proactive program worthy of note is the
Office of Exporter Services (OExS), especially their Outreach
and Educational Services Division. This office is responsible
for counseling exporters, conducting export control seminars,
and drafting and publishing changes to the Export Administration
Regulations. It is also responsible for administering license
applications and commodity classifications. They can be reached
by telephone at 202-482-0436.
The BIS website also provides access to the
five restricted parties lists all exporters should check before
exporting: Denied
Persons List, Unverified
List, Entity
List, Specialty
Designated Nationals List, and the Debarred
List. In order to follow due diligence in your procedures
and comply with U.S. export regulations, exporters should always
check these five lists.
Checking these lists can be a bit cumbersome
and time consuming because you have to point and click to each
list individually. An easier and more comprehensive solution
to checking the “bad guy” lists is to use export
software that includes an export compliance feature. The most
popular export software is Shipping
Solutions Professional, a software package that includes
16 lists including all the BIS lists plus Canadian, United Nations,
European Union and Japan lists.
In summary, if you have questions about export
procedures or about dealing with unknown and questionable parties
in your export process, it is a good idea to seek competent
counseling. You should also contact the BIS directly to ascertain
the correct protocol to follow in order to comply with the regulations.
Remember, we all must do our part in helping
to detect and prevent illegal exports of commodities and technology.
Shipping Solutions announced that it
has released a new update for it's best-selling software, Shipping
Solutions Professional. This beta release, which will upgrade
current Shipping Solutions Professional users to version 7.10,
includes a number of new features requested by current users.
The "beta" designation on this
release means that the software has gone through extensive in-house
testing and very limited user testing. Although the software
should work error free, there may be a limited number of small
issues that only a broader beta testing program will discover.
This update marks the first time the
company has offered a beta version of any update to its entire
Annual Mainenance Program subscriber list. Shipping
Solutions plans to release the final version of 7.10 to current
users and new customers by the end of September 2004.
Current subscribers to the Annual Maintenance
Program (AMP) can visit the AMP login page, enter their company
name and AMP number, and then download and install the update.
If you need help logging in to the AMP site, call Shipping Solutions
at 1-888-890-7447 or send an email to help@shipsolutions.com.
Shipping Solutions Professional version
7.10 includes the following new features:
-
Adds the new U.S. –
Chile Free Trade Agreement Certificate of Origin.
-
Adds the ability to
email export documents in the Adobe pdf format in addition
to the current Microsoft Snapshot format.
-
Updates the screening
algorithms in the Export Compliance Module to produce more
relevant results when screening contacts against the various
restricted parties lists.
-
Updates the NAFTA Certificates
of Origin to reflect changes to the form based on the creation
of the Department of Homeland Security.
-
Adds the ability to
include specific tasks that may be part of a company’s
written Export Management System to the EZ Start’s Shipment
Log screen.
-
Updates the interface
with the U.S. Census Department’s Automated Export System
(AES) to let users enter an email address if they want the
AES response to be emailed to a different address than the
account administrator’s email address.
-
Updates the Integration
Utility to allow additional NAFTA information to be imported
from an accounting, order-entry or ERP system into Shipping
Solutions Professional.
-
Includes a link to download
and install updated lists of U.S. and foreign ports, carrier
codes, and country codes into the appropriate databases in
Shipping Solutions.
-
Adds a contact name
and phone number to various export forms that didn’t
previously include this information.
-
Adds the ability to
display the ExWorks value of a shipment directly on the EZ
Start’s Commercial Invoice and Proforma Invoice screens.
-
Prints the exporter’s
logo to the Packing List if a logo is assigned to the exporter
in the Export Database.
-
Enhances the Copy Shipment
feature so that it copies more data from the designated shipment
to a new shipment record.
-
Adds a new Consolidation
Utility that allows users to combine information from several
invoices into one set of export documents. (This feature will
be part of the full release of the version 7.10. It is not
part of this current beta release.)
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.
