Shipping Solutions Newsletter

PCs, like PDAs and cell phones, have become a necessary part of everyday life and virtually impossible to live without, especially when traveling. I have good news for you trepidacious travelers: there is a license exception for you. Assuming you meet a few basic requirements, you and your PC can go trekking virtually anywhere in the world with only a few exceptions.

License exception BAG authorizes individuals leaving the United States either temporarily or longer term to take to any destination as personal baggage their personal effects, household effects, vehicles and tools of trade.

Tools of trade include usual and reasonable kinds of quantities of tools, instruments or equipment for use in the trade, occupation, employment, vocation or hobby of the travelers or members of the household.

Your PC qualifies as tools of trade, assuming your PC contains an encryption commodity and/or software, and I am 100% certain it does. You may export the encryption commodity and/or software to any destination not in Country Group E:1 (Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, or Syria).

Traveling to any one of these restricted destinations with an encryption item would require the traveler to obtain an export license prior to export from the Bureau of Industry and Security or the Office of Foreign Asset Controls depending upon the actual destination unless another applicable license exception would apply.

Assuming you can meet these few simple requirements you can be traveling the world with your PC without concerning yourself with the review and reporting requirements that may apply if you intend to permanently export or re-export a PC outside the United States.

By Richard Vitas Palaikis II email | bio

Have you considered conducting business internationally by exporting merchandise from the United States? If so, there are many factors you should take under consideration prior to engaging in an export transaction to ensure that the venture is a success rather than a failure.

This is the second in a series of articles that outline the steps that should be taken to successfully establish an export strategy.

Step 2: Gather Market Information

Once you have determined your company’s level of export readiness, you may then progress to the next stage of developing an effective export strategy by doing a little bit of research on your target market.

There are numerous companies of all sizes that have attempted to conduct business across international borders using the same methodologies that they used in the domestic marketplace. They have quickly found out that these same methodologies often do not provide the same level of return in the international marketplace.

In order to develop an effective export strategy, you must do your homework and cover all aspects of your proposed venture; otherwise you could quickly end up as a failure in the international marketplace and potentially damage yourself in the domestic marketplace as a result.

Which sources of information can a company tap into in order to obtain information about their proposed venture? There are many different sources that can provide this information including:

Industry and trade associations,
Financial institutions,
Marketing organizations,
International accounting and consulting firms,
International corporate intelligence services,
Local economic/industrial development agencies, Federal government departments and agencies, and
State government departments and agencies.

Each of these sources may provide detailed information pertaining to certain aspects of your international business venture. The level of information that may be provided depends on the business venture of your company.

Once you have identified the sources that will provide the best information for your company, you should then consider exactly what information you wish to obtain.

What are some of the topics that a corporation should gather to develop an effective export strategy? There are many topics that should be researched such as the following:

Are there any business practices that are unique to the target market that could hamper conducting business internationally?
Are there any cultural differences that must be accommodated and, if so, what affect would they have on the corporation?
Are there any aspects of the political environment of the target market that may hamper the conduct of business internationally?
Are there unique aspects of the legal environment within the target market that may pose unique challenges for the company to overcome?
How would the current production cycle be affected by conducting business internationally in the target market?
How would the supply chain be affected by conducting business internationally in the target market as it would relate to potential regulatory restrictions on certain merchandise/materials?
How would the distribution channels currently utilized be affected by conducting business internationally in the target market?

Perhaps the most important question of them all relates to risk. What is the risk involved in conducting business internationally and does it outweigh the possible benefits?

My next article will focus on bringing all of the information gathered during the research process into an export strategy that will serve as a blueprint for success in international trade.

Top of Page

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 Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. and Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. 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!

Top of Page