BPE Global Hot Topic – December 2022
The Year that Global Trade Compliance Became Invaluable
2022 brought more new twists to our world of global trade compliance than we could never have imagined. As trade compliance veterans, our mission has been to save companies time and money while reducing their risk. Never would we have predicted that our work would save lives and companies. I’ve always considered what we do as a valuable service but have never let it raise to the level of human life and liberty. Knowing how to correctly classify an item and file an export license is an important skill but doctors, parents and teachers are invaluable. This year all that changed.
This year, we joined the forces on the front lines of the war defending Ukraine following the unimaginable attack by Russian that began on February 24th. We quickly mobilized and offered pro bono services obtaining export licenses for Ukrainian soldiers deployed to the front for personal protection equipment. We cried as we spoke to those individuals telling them that we wished them health and safety and an end to this terrible war. Now, nearly a year into the war, we have honed our skills at evaluating the EU, UK and U.S. sanctions against Russia and Belarus. We help civil-end users of U.S. companies and their subsidiaries, branches, and joint ventures as well as companies based in allied countries. The war effort brought the Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) to exporters by teaching them that an accurate HTS could mean the difference between needing and export license or not.
And then in October, the new advanced computing and semiconductor regulations were published and implemented on the same day. We immediately identified 23 words in those new regulations that dealt a deadly blow to companies that supply products and services to Chinese entities that develop or produce semiconductor manufacturing and test equipment. We jumped into action applying for export licenses where the published licensing policy was one of denial. And, we successfully obtained licenses for those companies. In doing so, we saved American jobs. And we didn’t stop there. We educated BIS and our law firm partners on the true impact of these regulations. We contributed comments to the new regulations in several ways – directly with our clients and as part of one of our favorite trade associations – CompTIA.
In our 18 years in business, we’ve supported over 550 customers and our customers end up becoming a part of our family. They come to us in different stages of global trade development. Some are completely new to the export and import implications to their businesses. Others have been exposed to some global trade concepts but need a helping hand every now and then. And some are experts and look to us to make sure that their trade compliance programs are mature and functioning at the level that they need them to. We have a sense of parental obligation to these customers to make sure that they meet their full potential as global citizens. And we are extremely proud of our customers and their global trade achievements!
When I founded BPE Global, my fundamental goal was to relentlessly educate our customers, our partners, and our peers. Since the founding of BPE Global, we have made it our mission to pass on our love of global trade compliance and our true enthusiasm for the work that we do.
This year, we’ve been able to do this on a global scale. And, we can honestly say that we are not alone on our global trade compliance soapbox. This year, like no other year, global trade compliance became daily headline news. And we passionately provide solutions to overcome global trade hurdles and teach our customers how to repeatedly remove global trade compliance-related barriers.
We are honored that our work this year has saved lives and companies. We believe that our love and compassion for our clients have enabled them to be better exporters/importers. And we are doubling down on our efforts to educate the world on how to exist in this new era of trade compliance. I guess that in our own way BPE Global have become global trade compliance doctors, parents and teachers.
We appreciate working with you and hope that the holidays and coming year will bring you much happiness and success.
Wishing you happy holidays and a bright new year.
LOVE PEACE HOPE
BPE Global is a 18 year-old global trade compliance consulting and training firm. Beth Pride is the President of BPE Global. You can reach Beth by email at Beth@bpeglobal.com or by phone at 1-415-845-8967.