2010 - Page 3 of 10 - Customs & International Trade Law Firm

U.S. Customs Seizures and Forfeitures are Unique

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (U.S. Customs or CBP) seizes and forfeits hundreds of millions of dollars of merchandise every year. The IRS, DEA, U.S. Postal Service, and other Federal agencies also have the legal authority to seize and forfeit merchandise that were allegedly used illegally or were proceeds of alleged illegal activity, but U.S. Customs administrative and judicial forfeiture procedures are unique. The answer is that seizures by U.S. Customs typically are not included within the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000 (CAFRA).

The difference between a seizure under CAFRA’s rules under 18 U.S.C. 983 – The General Rules for Civil Forfeitures, and the U.S. Customs rules under the Tariff Act of 1930 and the Supplemental Rules of Admiralty, is significant. These significant differences are often misunderstood, including by attorneys who do not regularly practice in seizure and forfeiture matters. Under CAFRA, the U.S. Government must send an administrative seizure notice to affected persons within 60 days of the seizure, but for U.S. Customs cases, there is no such requirement. In fact, unfortunately, U.S. Customs often takes 90 to days to issue the Seizure Notice letter to affected parties such as the owner of the seized merchandise. Under CAFRA, a claimant has 35 days from the date of the notice of seizure to file its administrative claim or request judicial forfeiture. For U.S. Customs cases, the claimant must file a Petition within 30 days of the seizure notice or, if seeking judicial review of the seizure, file a claim and cost bond equal to 10% of […]

By Jennifer Diaz|2021-03-26T14:40:28-04:00September 6, 2010|CBD, Currency Seizure, Import|0 Comments

Forbidden Places for Tourism and Trade

Please make plans to attend the Forbidden Place-Tourism and Trade seminar on Friday, September 24, 2010. This seminar will take place at the J.W. Marriott Hotel, Miami, Florida. This half-day seminar will address a variety of recent regulations administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Topics to be addressed include travel to and trade with restricted countries, immigration aspects of tourism to sanctioned countries, and representing a client who is the subject of an investigation or penalty by the OFAC.

Click on this highlighted link for a pdf of the full brochure for the agenda of the event. Our featured luncheon guest speaker is Charles Bishop, Sanctions Coordinator, OFAC. Mr. Bishop has primarily been involved with administering the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, including license applications for Service Providers, Carrier Service Providers, Travel Service Providers, and Remittance Forwarders.

Please call The Florida Bar’s International Law Section at 850-561-5831 to register over the phone, fax your registration to 850-561-5816 or register on-line at www.floridabar.org/CLE. Attorneys who attend will receive Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits.

A block of rooms has been reserved at the J.W. Marriott Hotel Miami at the rate of $114 single/double occupancy. To make reservations, please call the hotel directly at (305) 329-3500. Reservations must be made by September 3, 2010 to assure the group rate […]

By Jennifer Diaz|2015-12-01T01:45:49-05:00August 30, 2010|Events, U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)|0 Comments

Caviar and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is responsible for regulating and managing the export and sale of paddlefish roe (caviar). To obtain a paddlefish roe export permit, an applicant must establish that it properly harvested the roe, and that its export would not undermine the survival of the species. But what happens when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has had the application for months, and has taken no action on it?

Paddlefish are 1 of 3 types of egg-bearing (roe) species native to the United States that are allowed to be commercially exported for their eggs, which are processed into caviar. For Leisure Caviar, a wholesale dealer of paddlefish roe, and Bemka Corporation, a buyer of paddlefish roe, they had applied to the Fish and Wildlife Service for export permits for 4,074 pounds of roe worth $500,000. The Fish and Wildlife Service had taken no action on the applications which had been filed from between 7 to 12 months earlier. The shelf life of paddlefish roe is only 12 months.

The applicant companies sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Federal Court in Chattanooga, Tennessee, seeking to get the Court to order the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to review and grant the applications. Instead, the Court dismissed the law suit. The Court’s legal Opinion explained that the companies “had failed exhausted their administrative remedies, a prerequisite for bringing suit against the U.S. Government under the Federal Tort Claims Act…” Moreover, upon appeal to a higher court, the appellate court stated:

The processing of […]

By Jennifer Diaz|2015-12-01T01:45:11-05:00August 27, 2010|U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)|0 Comments

Restaurant Menus Will Soon Change, FDA Issues Guidance

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a press release, dated August 24, 2010, providing guidance and outlining steps to help chain restaurants comply with new federal nutrition labeling requirements. The new law applies to restaurants and similar retail food establishments with 20 or more locations. The law requires the establishment to list calorie content information for standard menu items on restaurant menus and menu boards, including drive-through menu boards. Other nutrient information – total calories, fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, sugars, fiber and total protein – would have to be made available in writing upon request.

In the press release, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, M.D. said

One of the most important things we can do when it comes to the nation’s health is to provide simple basic information to the American people so they can make choices that are best for them and their family. The menu labeling program will help Americans get the facts about food choices that are available to them in restaurants and vending machines so they know what is in the food and can make healthier selections.

The FDA has until March 23, 2011 to carry out these provisions. FDA has issued guidance documents to help restaruants get started. The FDA is soliciting feedback now, if you want your voice heard, respond to FDA’s Federal Register Notice by October 21, 2010.

By Jennifer Diaz|2021-03-26T14:41:04-04:00August 25, 2010|U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)|0 Comments

FDA Import Alerts for Seafood

Americans are constantly bombarded with warnings that the seafood we eat is contaminated with salmonella, listeria, or some other antibiotic, fungicide, or microorganism that will make us sick. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is taking more samples of imported seafood, holding more seafood for laboratory analysis, and rejecting more seafood than in past years. That is true of basa from Vietnam, crabmeat from Indonesia, and a variety of seafood from countries as far away as China, or as close to the United States as the Bahamas.

The FDA issues ‘Import Alerts’ to attempt to prevent contaminated seafood (or specific products) from certain overseas suppliers from entering the food supply chain in the United States. Seafood importers should be very familiar with Import Alert 16-81 – “Detention Without Physical Examination of Seafood Products Due to the Presence of Salmonella”.

The Obama Administration’s Import Safety Working Group Food Protection Plan encourages the FDA to issue more Import Alerts. An Import Alert is an order to all FDA district officials to detain and examine imported seafood that is identified on an Import Alert, or to detain and examine any seafood shipped by an overseas company that is listed on the Import Alert (i.e. the “Red List”).

Import Alerts are issued on an almost daily basis by the FDA. For Import Alert 16-81, the “Charge” reads as follows:

The article is subject to refusal of admission pursuant to Section 801(a)(3) in that the product appears to contain salmonella, a poisonous and deleterious substance, which may render it […]

By Jennifer Diaz|2015-12-01T01:40:19-05:00August 23, 2010|Import, Import Alert|0 Comments

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