International Trade (for Dummies)

September 28, 2012 6:41 AM

If you run a business that deals in international trade, how do you easily manage export licensing and reporting to the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security? What about getting Certificates of Compliance and Certificates of Origin? I know you have to get a cert validated by a chamber of commerce (and in some circumstances, by that countries consulate) but can you give me any sort of description that would help me streamline the process?

To clarify, I'm sure I can find out what to do simply by making enough phone calls to enough people, so I don't need extremely general suggestions like "call the consulate to find out the procedures". I am just wondering if any Mefites have any experience with doing this regularly and can give me a streamlined synopsis of the procedure.

Also, in your experience, what problems come up most frequently?

posted by wolfdreams01 to law & government (2 answers total)

I do a ton of international trade. I use a freight forwarder, and it is their job to handle paperwork, customs, bonds, import/export documents, and regulations. There's no reason to spend your time on this specialty when you're trying to run a business.
posted by PSB at 12:36 PM on September 28, 2012

Sorry, I should clarify. I would be optimizing logistics for a very large corporation, meaning I'd need a certain in-depth knowledge of the procedure so that I could maximize savings based on the scale of their operations.
posted by wolfdreams01 at 2:03 PM on September 28, 2012