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Home Page Image "Providing Customs and International Trade Counseling to Worldwide Leaders."

Practice Areas:



Our practice combines the expertise of specialists in Customs Law, International Trade Law, and related commercial matters. Our firm occupies a unique niche in the practice of international business law, dedicated to serving the interests of our clients, both domestic and foreign. By focusing our activities in this narrow, highly complex area of the law, our clients can expect superior counsel in matters related to international trade and commerce. Clients benefit from our familiarity with the inner workings of the various governmental agencies that administer customs and international trade law, as well as our legislative efforts within the US. Senate and House of Representatives This specialization also ensures that our clients are kept apprised of the most recent developments in customs and international trade law which affect their businesses.

 
   
Customs and Related Services

Our firm regularly appears before a wide range of bodies regulating and affecting Customs matters in the United States. These regulatory bodies include:

  • All levels of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection
  • United States Court of International Trade
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
  • U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry & Security
  • Those agencies whose laws are enforced by Customs and Border Protection such as:
    • Food and Drug Administration
    • Federal Communications Commission
    • Environmental Protection Agency
    • Department of Transportation
    • Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
    • Fish and Wildlife Service
    • Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements
    • Consumer Product Safety Commission
    • Federal Trade Commission
    • The Department of Agriculture
   
  Common Customs Issues

Some of the issues arising before United States Customs and Border Protection which are regularly handled by the firm include:

  • tariff classification and value
  • country of origin marking
  • quota
  • drawback
  • use of foreign trade zones and Customs bonded warehouses
  • penalty and prior disclosure matters
  • liquidated damage claims
  • entry of merchandise
  • special tariff provisions
  • the Generalized System of Preferences
  • the Caribbean Basin Initiative
  • audits
  • problems encountered by customhouse brokers
  • compliance programs
  • Customs - Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT)

Binding rulings from Customs on these issues are regularly handled by the firm, along with all requisite administrative representation.
   
  International Trade Services

The firm's international trade practice is extensive and varied. Our firm regularly practices before those bodies regulating international trade issues such as:

  • U.S. Department of Commerce;
  • Office of the United States Trade Representative;
  • US International Trade Commission.
  • Litigable issues arising from representation before these bodies are regularly handled by the firm in the US Court of International Trade and the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Our firm represents importers and exporters in:

  • antidumping and countervailing duty cases;
  • trade practice cases arising under Section 201, Section 301, and Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended;
  • presentations to the World Trade Organization through the USTR's Office;
  • issues arising within the context of the unification of the European Union;
  • issues relating to bilateral and multilateral Free Trade Agreements, such as NAFTA.

Consonant with the firm's philosophical preference of preventative rather than crisis-intervention representation, the firm conducts internal audits of its clients' operations upon request. These audits pertain to a review of all customs and international trade issues such as:

  • classifications,
  • value,
  • country of origin marking,
  • NAFTA,
  • dumping,
  • transfer pricing,
  • drawback and similar issues.
  • Assistance is also provided to clients facing audits from U.S. Customs or other trade related agencies, and for dumping verifications conducted by the Commerce Department.
   
 
Sonnenberg & Anderson.  http://www.sonnander.com