Contributing Lawyers

H.R. 4844 has been introduced by Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La., which if passed, would finally accomplish a long-awaited goal of those paying into the Harbor Maintenance Tax Fund. Specifically, the bill would require the money...

There is information available on the Internet that the United Arab Emirates is the back door or intermediary for the flow of goods to Iran. Please see this article -...

According to a media release of 25 October 2009 from the Australian Trade Minister, it has been agreed that the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement will come into force on 1 January 2010 following discussion between...

H.R. 2355 has been introduced with the goal of raising funding to support infrastructure projects. By its terms, the bill provides that states will be given yearly grants from the funds raised in proportion to their contribution...

As has been widely publicized, Customs has published the penalty guidelines for the Importer Security Filing program. Carrying on its goal of getting importers to participate as soon as possible, the first mitigating factor...

The HMT currently has a surplus of $4.6 billion. H.R. 3447 proposes to reform the fund by seeking greater expenditures for dredging and deepening the country’s ocean ports as currently only 43.7% of the funding is being...

H.R. 2355 has been introduced with the goal of raising funding to support infrastructure projects. By its terms, the bill provides that states will be given yearly grants from the funds raised in proportion to their contribution...

The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service ("Customs") has recently issued two new rulings whose impact is considered below.

Customs compliance monitoring program

The 2008/2009 Federal Budget contained reference to...

On 5 August 2009, the Australian High Court (our highest Court) issued its judgment on liability under sections 10 and 11 of the Damage by Aircraft Act 1999 (C'th) ("Act"). 

Nature of liability

Subsection 10(1) of the...

There are a number of possible regulatory reforms coming in the current session of Congress that will change how services providers interact with their customers, including the Food Safety Enhancement Act and possible export...

A report in "The Age" newspaper today refers to the results of a 3 year investigation by the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) which has uncovered "serious weaknesses" in the security of ports and airports.

The ACC's "Crime in...

The recent release of Australian Customs Notice No. 2009/25 ("ACN") by the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service ("Customs") is a clear warning to those in industry who use the Enhanced Project By-Law Scheme ("EPBS")...

In March, there was a conference in Portland under the name COOL Cargoes Conference. It was subtitled "Linking up the Cold Chain" and focused on temperature controlled cargo. Its main themes, given that the topic was...

The U.S. federal government has begun to increase the attention being paid to Mexican border issues other than drugs, although the drug wars captured the attention of the general press as drug kingpins brazenly acted in ways that...

From the outset, Secretary Napolitano has said the priorities of Homeland Security are:

1) Law enforcement2) Disaster recovery3) Privacy4) Civil liberties5) Critical infrastructure6) Protect infrastructure; and7) Immigration...

At a trade association meeting last week, Customs released updated figures about ISF filings. As of mid-May, some 809,000 filings had been received from about 45,000 filers. Of those, nearly 88% were accepted without errors, 4.3%...