In light of the war on terrorism and the emphasis on border security, businesses engaged in the cross-border exchange of goods face a multitude of new laws and initiatives—in addition to the traditional array of responsibilities required by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Customs). While these regulations are intended to strengthen border security, without careful planning they may have the unfortunate result of hindering the efficient movement of goods. The mission of the customs practice at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP remains simple and clear: to optimize our clients’ ability to engage in the cost-efficient and timely exchange of goods across borders, as permitted by law.

Our Services

There is no typical client, routine transaction or “boilerplate” in our practice. Rather, we offer solutions tailored to each client, bearing in mind the cost and potential for success at each step along the way. Our services include the following critical components—

Trade and Tariff Compliance

Tariff Classification and Appraisement. The “nuts and bolts” of any sophisticated customs practice are tariff classification and appraisement, and, for the customs practice at Akin Gump, these components are fundamental. Companies tend to overlook these elements as sources of potential duty savings and compliance for imported merchandise. Our prior and current experience is a substantial assets in navigating this complex body of law in order to maximize the potential for duty savings and minimize the risk of Customs penalties.

Preferential Programs. Numerous preferential trade programs allow importers to maintain a competitive edge. For example, we counsel clients on the benefits of NAFTA, the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), the U.S.-Israel Free Trade Agreement, the Caribbean Basin Initiative and the emerging trade agreements of the early 21st century. In addition, we evaluate and plan programs whereby companies can gain tariff advantage by importing goods that are partially made in the United States and assembled or partially fabricated abroad. Finally, we work strategically with our clients to ensure that they avail themselves of opportunities to minimize duty through customs-bonded warehouses and movements, foreign trade zones and duty drawback.

Brokerage and Transportation. We also counsel cutting-edge service providers who make international trade a reality each and every day for importers and exporters—customs brokers, freight forwarders and transportation providers. We have extensive experience in the customs laws regulating these parties and work closely with them to achieve maximum efficiency for them without sacrificing compliance obligations.

Border/Homeland Security Compliance

Sophisticated companies engaged in cross-border trade know that the global war on terrorism directly affects their businesses through new laws and initiatives. The clearest example of these new mandates is found in the assimilation of the U.S. Customs Service and other international trade agencies into the Department of Homeland Security. At Akin Gump, our comprehensive approach to border/homeland security compliance includes both advising clients on their compliance obligations under the new mandates (e.g., the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, the advance manifest requirements of the Trade Act of 2002 and the Bioterrorism Act) and, equally important, advocating our clients’ concerns during the rapid policymaking deliberations that lead up to these new mandates.

Customs Audits and Internal Compliance Programs

It is no secret that Customs imposes strict recordkeeping requirements and that it retains the ability to conduct audits well after the date that goods are imported. These audits may last for many months and result in intrusive government inquiries and, in some cases, demands for back-duties and penalties. Our practice prepares our clients for these audits by developing and implementing internal compliance programs. When audits do occur, we work hard to ensure that our clients’ interests are fully protected and that Customs concludes the audit as quickly as possible with the least amount of intrusion.

Administrative Review

One method of achieving cost efficiency in cross-border trade is to take a proactive stance with Customs. By filing requests for binding rulings, requests for internal advice and protests of liquidated entries, importers and others often are successful in obtaining significant savings in duties, fees and taxes without resorting to litigation. Our practice is designed to take advantage of critical opportunities to pursue administrative review for our clients.

Customs Enforcement: Penalties, Forfeitures and Investigations

As any recipient of a customs penalty notice knows, Customs has potent legal authority to impose severe penalties and forfeitures of property. Customs also enforces many different criminal statutes, including those pertaining to smuggling and export control. Our practice helps clients avoid these pitfalls, which are potentially among the most costly of penalties that Customs can impose. In those cases in which Customs does make enforcement claims, we have years of experience in effectively contesting them—both administratively and before federal courts.

Customs Litigation

Our lawyers have been involved, in both private and government practice, in virtually all facets of civil and criminal litigation before the U.S. Court of International Trade, federal district courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. While our firm has the strength to represent clients in any type of customs litigation, our goal is to avoid the high costs and inherent uncertainties of litigation whenever the situation warrants. In those cases in which litigation is necessary, we have a track record of excellent results.

Trade Legislation

We have extensive experience in legislative matters affecting customs and trade that arise in both houses of Congress. Our lawyers have been involved in the legislative process at every stage, from preparing testimony for congressional hearings, to assisting in drafting legislation, to working with elected officials and their staffs to achieve desired legislative outcomes. This facet of our practice, which coordinates closely with the highly experienced Akin Gump public law and policy practice, is of great benefit to those clients who want to have an impact on how the trade and customs laws are written or who require congressional assistance in achieving specific public policy outcomes in the executive branch.

Our Approach

In carrying out these numerous and varied efforts, Akin Gump facilitates the expeditious trade of goods across borders by (1) minimizing customs duties, fees and taxes to the extent permitted by law, (2) ensuring compliance with the hundreds of laws enforced by Customs at the border and (3) strengthening supply chain and border security in accordance with new and emerging laws and initiatives.

Our Clients

The clients of the customs practice run the gamut from Fortune 100 corporations to small entrepreneurial companies. We represent leaders in such diverse industries as—

• aerospace
• apparel
• cosmetics
• customs brokerage
• electronics
• express delivery
• food products
• freight forwarding
• high technology
• home furnishings
• logistics
• luxury goods
• paper products
• photography
• telecommunications
• transportation.

Our Team

Akin Gump’s international trade team comprises a mix of sophisticated lawyers, economists and other professionals with considerable experience in key government departments and agencies regulating cross-border trade. Our experience in all facets of customs law enables us to fulfill our mission of helping clients with the timely and efficient trade of goods across borders. Our team also has a firm grasp of the policies surrounding the enforcement of customs statutes and regulations by the executive and judicial branches, as well as the development of customs legislation in Congress and regulatory and policy initiatives in the executive branch.

To maximize our strength in managing these complicated forces, our customs practice includes an impressive array of former government officials with substantive capabilities in cross-border trade who are dedicated to leveraging their perspective for clients. For example, our team features former senior officials (including agency counsel and prosecutors) with Customs and the departments of Commerce, Justice and the Treasury. These leaders, together with many other distinguished practitioners, help maintain Akin Gump’s outstanding reputation as a global law firm with strong bipartisan relationships within key U.S. agencies, as well as on Capitol Hill and in the White House.

Our Reach

Akin Gump’s international trade team extends across the United States and around the globe from Washington, D.C., to Beijing, China. The lawyers in the customs practice regularly appear before Customs, but are also familiar with the workings of all of the numerous federal agencies on whose behalf Customs regulates cross-border trade, including—

• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Commerce
• Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms
• Drug Enforcement Administration
• Coast Guard
• Consumer Product Safety Commission
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Food and Drug Administration
• Federal Trade Commission
• Fish and Wildlife Service
• Internal Revenue Service
• Office of Foreign Assets Control
• Transportation Security Administration.

In addition, our lawyers appear before the U.S. Court of International Trade and other federal courts, all of which may, from time to time, exercise jurisdiction over the customs laws.

Clients engaged in cross-border trade reap the formidable advantage of the collaborative efforts of Akin Gump’s intellectual talent. With the insights of the firm’s international trade, corporate, public law and policy, tax and white collar criminal defense practitioners, Akin Gump employs a multidisciplinary approach to its customs practice and draws on the enormous talents of many professionals. With this arsenal of legal and policy skills, our customs practice stands ready to aid clients in expanding and maintaining efficient cross-border trade in the challenging marketplace of the 21st century.