DLA Piper

Boosting your ability to trade across borders

The world operates within a complex political, regulatory and media environment. The way businesses and governments interpret and influence developments in this environment is crucial to their ongoing commercial success. Effective management of this environment is key to the way you are perceived by the markets and by political, regulatory, media and consumer audiences.

Our lawyers offer trade, lobbying and communications support to public and private sector clients across the world. We help clients, whether business or government, navigate complex regulation, legislation and standards that govern global policymaking; understand policy creation and decision-making processes across the US, EU and beyond; and ensure their opinions are heeded in Brussels, Washington, DC, Geneva, London and other global capitals.

Our group counsel clients on cross-border opportunities while managing the regulatory risks. With decades of experience practicing before various international trade and investment authorities, we’re well positioned to help companies through the ever changing regulations and guidance around international trade and includes advising clients on the US this national security review process.

We offer strategic and legal support to companies caught up in complex and rapidly changing financial sanctions including helping businesses meet the regulatory challenges, minimizing risk and developing proactive programs to fit business needs. Our team also supports our client needs around customs enforcement and routinely help multinationals reduce their customs duties and indirect tax liabilities. We conduct internal audits and act for importers and others in voluntary disclosure cases, seizures and so on.

“Our lawyers offer trade, lobbying and communications support to public and private sector clients across the world.”

Our lawyers represent clients in high-profile antidumping and countervailing duty cases, which combine traditional trade remedy litigation with political work. Here, our in-depth experience in the actual conduct of trade proceedings enables us to provide sophisticated advice. We also address customs classification, circumvention and customs fraud issues.

We have extensive experience in advising companies on government agency regulations surrounding international trade and transactions. Our practice includes the former director of the Office of Foreign Assets Controls and other former Executive Branch officials from The White House and the US Commerce Department.

Our practice encompasses the full range of trade remedy litigation before trade agencies, international dispute resolution panels and the courts. We have prosecuted, defended and provided advice with respect to numerous US and foreign import relief and market access proceedings.

Our US FCPA, UK Bribery Act, and international anti-corruption and financial fraud lawyers are experienced at dealing with investigations and enforcement. And our investigations, reviews, audits and due diligence projects span the globe.

Experience

Advising clients across a range of sectors on the scope, application and interpretation of export controls and trade restrictions and potential criminal penalties and administrative sanctions imposed by relevant competent enforcement authorities for failure to maintain adequate risk management procedures and violation of legal obligations.
Advising a number of private equity companies on cross-border transactions and investment activity, together with the identification and management of third party risk with regards to the activities of agents, distributors and joint venture partners as well as financial institutions, insurers and logistics companies.
Supporting numerous multinational companies with the development and implementation tailored compliance policies and procedures and production of export control manuals to assist with day-to-day operational activities and to ensure that sound practices are embedded in key business functions in a least burdensome manner in order to support commercial objectives.
Assistance with advocacy before and strategic engagement with relevant competent authorities across a range of issues, including: export license applications; requests for advisory opinions; product classifications; regulatory audits; and the handling of disclosures to government enforcement agencies.
Assisting major exporting companies and ancillary service providers to perform enhanced due diligence and counter-party screening, including with regards to the management of third party risk and potential acquisition targets.
Assisting a number of international banks with risk profiling and the development of policies and procedures for screening and enhanced due diligence in relation to account take on and maintenance, client relationship management and payment transactions.
Advising on the scope of legal and regulatory obligations to screen customers, counterparties and payment transactions in relation to financial sanctions risk and the escalation and management of potential “hits” and “false positives”.
Advising a number of European banks on the operation of preexisting and draft trade financing instruments which may implicate economic sanctions or trade financial restrictions in relation to payment transactions and wider financing which involves a sanctioned third party or an underlying transaction which is restricted due to wider trade measures.
Advice for numerous clients with regards to responding to extend or pay demands in relation to performance bonds and advance payment guarantees which have been triggered due to the underlying contract becoming frustrated due to the implementation of international sanctions.
Advising major international investment managers and wider financial service provides such as custodians, administrators, brokers, intermediaries, placement agents, and distributors on the scope and application of economic sanctions and trade financing restrictions to fund management activities in primary and secondary markets.
Assisting a number of clients in the investment management sector on their general compliance obligations and transaction related risk, for example, with regards to institutional clients part owned by government entities, mutual funds/collective investment schemes maintaining subscriptions from sanctioned persons and risk mitigation with regards to omnibus accounts, and private and retail investors.
Advising a multinational company on tariff classifications, the reduction of customs payments (making a direct impact on the profitability of the company) and safeguarding against the regulatory risk arising from noncompliance with customs rules.
Assisting numerous clients in the retail sector with product origin determinations and the assessment of company supply chains in order to assess whether clients can take advantage of preferential trade agreements.
Advising on customs valuations in order to assess whether costs exists which are not required to be included in a valuation for customs purposes. Removing such costs significantly reduces the valuation level and amount of duty our clients pay on imports.
Assessing applicable duty relief regimes to identify applicable duty suspension regimes which may apply to clients’ imports and advice in relation to alteration of processes to identify cost savings.
Representation before relevant customs authorities and engagement with third parties to safeguard the client’s position, secure compensation from freight forwarders and ensure that goods are cleared at customs points with the minimum delay and expense.
Successfully challenging unfavourable customs rulings in order to overturn decisions at second level review and before the tax tribunals.

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Trade Truths

Cutting through the political noise and technical jargon to explain in simple terms how international trade issues will affect your commercial interests, and provide practical advice on how to navigate them.