A new ICC Commission on Customs and Trade Facilitation held its first meeting in Paris this week, establishing an agenda to expand the trade facilitation work undertaken by the former ICC Committee on Customs and Trade Regulations to include international multi-modal transport and logistics issues. Providing a global, cross-sector business forum, the consolidated commission seeks [...]
A new ICC Commission on Customs and Trade Facilitation held its first meeting in Paris this week, establishing an agenda to expand the trade facilitation work undertaken by the former ICC Committee on Customs and Trade Regulations to include international multi-modal transport and logistics issues.
Providing a global, cross-sector business forum, the consolidated commission seeks an integrated approach to trade facilitation, encouraging issue consolidation and coherence in ICC policy-making that is in line with ICC’s ultimate objective of facilitating global trade.
“Determining procedures to facilitate trade by combining the expertise of specialists in customs and transport is a tremendous contribution to world trade and therefore to job creation,” said ICC Secretary General Jean-Guy Carrier.
“ICC is enthusiastic about the potential of this new approach to attract new member companies to our work, as they see for themselves the advantage of working together,” he said.
Commission projects for 2013 include producing guidelines for traders and providing input on customs valuation and classification to the World Customs Organization’s private sector consultative group.
The commission will be led by Chair Anthony Barone, Director, Global Logistics Policy, Pfizer and reinforced by the inclusion of a Vice-Chair with expertise in transport and logistics issues.
Mr Barone said: “The objective of the new commission is to identify strategic issues that will have a material impact on trade. Ideally we would like to achieve significant modernization rather than incremental steps.”
The benefits of a supply chain that operates like a well-oiled machine are clear: It means lower costs, shorter lead times, and happier customers. But as supply chains become more and more complex, the machine has more moving parts that can break down – with disastrous results for your business. Read this guide to supply [...]
The benefits of a supply chain that operates like a well-oiled machine are clear: It means lower costs, shorter lead times, and happier customers. But as supply chains become more and more complex, the machine has more moving parts that can break down – with disastrous results for your business.
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Reynold Martens, Executive VP, GHY International and author of the series of white papers on Integrated Trade Compliance Strategy development describes the foremost “best practice” shared by leading traders. “The first best practice is that corporate leadership has identified trade compliance as a priority. Leading firms actually build compliance in as part of their corporate [...]
Reynold Martens, Executive VP, GHY International and author of the series of white papers on Integrated Trade Compliance Strategy development describes the foremost “best practice” shared by leading traders.
“The first best practice is that corporate leadership has identified trade compliance as a priority. Leading firms actually build compliance in as part of their corporate doctrine. Why is that? Well, because the consequences of non-compliance are very significant and the upside of compliance is very positive.
Some studies indicate that up to 40 percent of companies do not have senior management that is aware of trade compliance and that is a bit perplexing. The ones that do make it a priority do make that decision for a number of different reasons.”
“Number one is brand and reputation. People want to do the right things for the right reasons and brand reputation in a global environment is more important than ever today.
Secondly, financial risk mitigation… Who wants to have a surprise and a penalty or something that comes across their desk or on their balance sheet that’s not expected and compromises their profitability?
Thirdly, operational excellence is becoming the norm in businsses today. Lean business systems, lean processes, and cost management are mantras that are being used in most businesses today. Compliance is a part of that.
Fourthly, profitability. Compliance has a way of helping companies stay profitable and avoid unprofitable losses which gives them an edge in the marketplace.
Finally, it’s legally required; it’s part of due diligence. You can’t not be compliant and expect to ‘get away with it.’ Again, it is the right thing to do for all the right reasons.”
So, where does trade compliance fit in your leadership’s hierarchy of corporate priorities?
I.E.Canada’s 2nd Annual Ontario Regional Conference aims to provide participants with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in today’s rapidly changing global trade environment. On Day 2 of the conference (May 15), GHY’s Executive Vice President Reynold Martens will present a session entitled “Integrated Trade Compliance Strategies: 7 Best Practices of Leading Traders.” In [...]
I.E.Canada’s 2nd Annual Ontario Regional Conference aims to provide participants with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in today’s rapidly changing global trade environment.
On Day 2 of the conference (May 15), GHY’s Executive Vice President Reynold Martens will present a session entitled “Integrated Trade Compliance Strategies: 7 Best Practices of Leading Traders.”
In a world of increasingly complex international supply chains, trade compliance expectations placed on Canadian importers and exporters have never been higher. Companies that integrate effective compliance remediation mechanisms into their processes of governance, business operations, sourcing and sales, will benefit from reduced regulatory risk and enjoy competitive advantage. This presentation unpacks the essential elements required to make it happen.
Reynold Martens, Executive VP of GHY International, touches on the impacts of globalization, the growing role of strategy across functional areas, and linkages between business units — three key factors driving the need for a greater awareness of international trade compliance within organizations today. “It was a lot easier when markets were homogeneous, when companies [...]
Reynold Martens, Executive VP of GHY International, touches on the impacts of globalization, the growing role of strategy across functional areas, and linkages between business units — three key factors driving the need for a greater awareness of international trade compliance within organizations today.
“It was a lot easier when markets were homogeneous, when companies were selling to either domestic customers or buying from domestic suppliers in Canada or North America, but that of course is now becoming much more expanded into Asia, Europe, South America, and even Africa. The consequences and complexities that go with the failure to get it right are much more material in terms of dollars.”
“It’s not just about managing costs, but managing risks and in today’s just-in-time environment there is a whole lot to lose if something goes astray and doesn’t end up where it’s supposed to be at the right time”
Last year, Western Union, along with BDO, Export Development Canada, Farm Credit Canada, GHY International, CentrePort Canada and Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP hosted a case-study seminar focusing on importing and exporting from the Canadian market, transportation logistics, global risk, lending, legal issues, tax concerns, currency exchange and risk mitigation. The video below from this event [...]
Last year, Western Union, along with BDO, Export Development Canada, Farm Credit Canada, GHY International, CentrePort Canada and Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP hosted a case-study seminar focusing on importing and exporting from the Canadian market, transportation logistics, global risk, lending, legal issues, tax concerns, currency exchange and risk mitigation.
The video below from this event features Bob Cowie of GHY International speaking about the rapidly evolving state of Canada’s free trade activities in the global market and the potential risk implications that various regulatory agencies (i.e., other government departments or “OGDs”) aside from the more evident import/export concerns of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) can have on import transactions.
One of the key points raised in this brief presentation is the importance of improving the scope of communication across narrowly defined functional areas within companies to ensure that the impact of business decisions are fully realized by the organization as a whole. In other words, taking the steps needed to help prevent actions taken in pursuit of a specific objective by one aspect of the business from unwittingly having international trade consequences detrimentally affecting the company’s overall bottom line (a critical deficiency of informational “silos” highlighted in the white paper A Case for An Integrated Trade Compliance Strategy).
In the example provided here, a manufacturer of animal feed seeking to gain market share ostensibly improved their product by amending its formula, unfortunately without realizing this essential change had the practical effect of impacting the tariff classification of the “new and improved” product. As a result, it went from a duty-free status to one attracting significant import duties after its formula had been altered. Most likely this unforeseen impact was never factored into the cost-benefit analysis of “improving” the product in the first place and may well have ultimately negated the profits gained from the projected sales increase.
Similar situations are routinely encountered when, for example, decisions are made to source parts or components offshore to reduce the cost of manufacture, but which could potentially affect the status of the finished product adversely for purposes of determining free trade qualification by virtue of skewing the “regional value content” or other applicable rules of origin.
As suggested in the presentation, in an increasingly globalized trade environment with a growing proliferation of complex free trade agreements, the need for an integrated approach to trade compliance is more important than ever before!
