Join Amber Road for a complimentary webinar on Successfully Managing Import and Export Compliance in China, broadcasting live on Wednesday, July 30, at 2:30pm CET.

You will learn how to optimize your compliance processes and effectively deal with the challenges of China trade operations while exploring the challenges European companies face in their trade operations in China. Our presenters will discuss the following:

• The China trade landscape
• How to use our self-assessment toolkit to gauge your China trade operations
• What solutions are available to help you automate and manage your imports and exports in China

Your daily commute isn’t the only thing that oil has been fueling as of late. The U.S. oil industry is in the midst of an ongoing debate whether to lift a 1975 ban on the exportation of crude oil.

This four-decade-old ban on U.S. crude oil exports was imposed by Congress in response to the 1973 Arab embargo and a dwindling of domestic oil reserves. Since then, new technologies have enabled U.S. oil production to top 8 million barrels a day, the highest since 1988. In fact, the U.S. is now the world’s largest producer of crude oil.

“I’m watching you.” Just as Robert De Niro warned Greg Focker in Meet the Parents, Fokker Services should have realized that the U.S. government was watching too. By doing so, it could have avoided a $21 million fine for exporting U.S.-made goods to Iran, Sudan, and Burma in violation of trade sanctions.

Fokker Services, a subsidiary of the Dutch aerospace company Fokker Technologies Holding BV, admitted to more than 1,100 shipments of banned aircraft parts, technology, and services to sanctioned countries between 2005 and 2010. The $21 million fine represents the value of these transactions.

Surprisingly, U.S. trade with Russia grew in March, despite rising tensions and Russia’s annexation of Crimea. According to the Commerce Department, exports of U.S. goods to Russia rose 9% from the prior month, and imports from Russia rose 36%.

The U.S. tends to import Russian oil, metals and fertilizers and export machinery, vehicles, and food. March’s trade increase can largely be attributed to a surge in exports of civilian aircraft and autos.

With Miami’s beautiful beaches and year-round warm weather, it’s hard to have many worries – unless you are facing deemed export risks. With increasing local, state and federal regulations, the University of Miami (UM) realized its current export compliance processes were reactive and could not effectively manage risks. UM needed a way to improve its export compliance program.

To achieve its goals, UM implemented the restricted party screening module of Amber Road’s Export On-Demand solution. They also use Amber Road to streamline and manage their export license requirements, as well as address challenges in identifying export control classification numbers (ECN) and harmonized tariff schedule (HTS) numbers.

The camaraderie of last month’s Sochi Winter Olympics seems to be a fleeting memory as relations between the U.S. and Russia continue to deteriorate. In its latest response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the U.S. announced that it has imposed a ban on the issuance of export licenses for defense items and services to Russia. The State Department halted licensing on Monday, while the Commerce Department suspended licensing on March 1st.

The Commerce Department will halt sales of software, electronic devices, optical sensors and cameras, which were all among the $1.5 billion worth of exports to Russia licensed in 2013. Of that $1.5 billion, $798 million were for detonators and $367 million were for software products. Other products included encrypted software, ammunition for firearms, spacecraft, and chemicals.

As the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) continues to play an increasing role in regulating trade, 2014 will bring about big changes at the agency, which will directly impact importers and exporters. Attorney Peter Quinter, who chairs the Customs & International Trade Law Group of GrayRobinson, P.A., has compiled a list of 10 predictions about where CBP is headed:

We know that keeping up with Export Control Reform (ECR) changes can be tough, so we’re breaking down the latest updates for you right here!

Get Caught Up: To date, 13 of the 21 categories on the U.S. Munitions list have been modified. These items include aircraft, explosives, gas turbine engines, missiles and military vehicles, which combined account for approximately 90 percent of all export licenses.