Customs Law

One of my least favorite areas of customs regulation has to do with the ability of related companies to provide compliance expertise through shared services. The problem arises because while a company can rely on its employees to conduct customs business on its own behalf, no one but a licensed customs broker can engage in customs business on behalf of a third party. That means that if you are an employee of Subsidiary Alpha of Acme Holdings Corp. you can't fully assist your sister company Subsidiary Beta with its customs compliance. That is true even though you may be the most qualified person in the entirely to the Acme Holdings extended family. While there is a space called "corporate compliance" in which the shared services model works just fine, managing the line of acceptable advice is difficult. The reason for this is  19 USC § 641(b)(1) , which requires a valid customs broker's license to undertake customs business on behalf of a third party. Customs busines...

Did you ever see a marlin or other game fish proudly displayed as a mounted trophy and wonder exactly how one goes from landing the fish to hanging it over the mantel? I have always assumed that some portion of that trophy is the actual fish that was murdered caught through the skill and patience of the angler. I pictured a taxidermy shop where meat and entrails were scooped out and skin carefully laid over some sort of interior structure. This was, in my mind at least, a gruesome art form. It turns out that in at least one case, modern anglers do not rely on the real fish at all for their mounted trophies. Apparently, a mounted fish trophy can now be made based entirely on the recollection of the one that got away (or was released). Don't get me wrong, in an era of over fishing and increasing sensitivity to the needless destruction of animal life, this makes perfect sense. Why kill the fish when you can have a replica made and mounted? For our purposes, the question is whether...

Here's my new profile .

If you have been around here long enough, you know I am a skeptical guy. I believe the consensus of medical science is in a better position than the guy at the supplement store to give medical advice. I also believe that eating or drinking something with the intention of modifying the way your body works is a medical decision whether you are taking a prescription drug or a "natural" supplement. I suspect the prescription drug has a better chance of actually working as advertised than does the supplement, but both are drugs. With that in mind, I read HQ H268556 (Dec. 15, 2015), which considers the tariff classification of Kimera Koffee . This particular product is about 95% coffee, but it has been "boosted" with taurine, alpha GPC 50%, L-theanine, and DMAE (Deanol). As  result, the coffee is advertised as enhancing cognitive performance, boosting energy levels, improving focus and concentration, and enhancing athletic performance. The additives are a class of pr...