Mike Smiszek, Author at Braumiller Consulting Group

Judicial Deference in Customs Litigation

August 9, 2024

One of the most anticipated decisions of the Supreme Court’s recent term was Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. While the specific underlying dispute in Loper Bright isn’t relevant to the trade community—did fishermen have to pay for government-mandated observers on their vessels?—the Court used this case to overturn the broadly applicable judicial deference test established in 1984 in Chevron U.S.A. Inc., v. Natural Resources Defense Council.

A Day in the Life of a Trade Compliance Manager: A Corporate Parable

August 9, 2024

A fly on the wall at an executive retreat for Acme Super Duper Widget Company overhears the following conversation between Pete, the CFO, and Saira, the General Counsel.

The Multi-Purpose Role of the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule

December 12, 2022

When goods are imported into the United States, the importer-of-record (IOR) must, with reasonable care, file an entry (CBP Form 3461) and entry summary (CBP Form 7501), or the electronic equivalents, with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). These documents are the IOR’s preliminary and final declarations about the nature and circumstances of the import transaction, and they tell the story of the transaction through more than forty data elements.

OFAC Reissues Cyber-Related Sanctions Regulations

October 2, 2022

An inherent aspect of any new technology is that it doesn’t take long for bad actors to figure out how it can be weaponized for nefarious purposes. Cyber-related technologies represent an increasingly dangerous area of risk for everyone, whether they are individual citizens, business and infrastructure entities, or governments. Adversaries of the U.S., including China, Russia, and North Korea have engaged in acts of cyberespionage, often intended not only to cause actual harm, but also to test our ability to counter acts of malicious cyber-intrusion.

Antiboycott Compliance for U.S. Companies

April 10, 2022

A boycott is the organized and intentional refusal to engage in activity, whether directly or indirectly, with an identifiable specific group of persons in order to achieve a discriminatory policy objective based upon national origin, religion, ethnicity, race, gender, or other group characteristic.

Tariff Classification and the U.S. Federal Courts: The Twenty Most Significant Precedents

February 9, 2022

Tariff classification-related court precedents have significantly shaped the way importers, brokers, consultants, lawyers, and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) classify goods today under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS, or simply HTS).

Nuclear Export Controls: A Brief Overview of NRC and DoE Regulations

December 6, 2021

Two bodies of export regulations typically come to mind when we think of export controls: the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) of the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) of the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC).

Amendments to the MX Customs General Rules for 2024 and to Annexes 1, 2, 5 and 24 (Reglas Generales de Comercio Exterior para 2024)

Navigating Trade Waters: A Deep Dive into the USMCA Joint Review Process and Its Impact on China and Mexico – Part Two: The Mexico-US Trade Landscape and Harris’s Potential Vision

Mike Smiszek

Mike Smiszek

Judicial Deference in Customs Litigation

A Day in the Life of a Trade Compliance Manager: A Corporate Parable

The Multi-Purpose Role of the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule

OFAC Reissues Cyber-Related Sanctions Regulations

Antiboycott Compliance for U.S. Companies

Tariff Classification and the U.S. Federal Courts: The Twenty Most Significant Precedents

Nuclear Export Controls: A Brief Overview of NRC and DoE Regulations

Tariff Engineering: Opportunities for Duty Mitigation

The Case for Global Trade Compliance

The Loneliest Rule: A Practical Examination of GIR 4, the Harmonized System’s Least Frequently Applied Rule

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Amendments to the MX Customs General Rules for 2024 and to Annexes 1, 2, 5 and 24 (Reglas Generales de Comercio Exterior para 2024)

Navigating Trade Waters: A Deep Dive into the USMCA Joint Review Process and Its Impact on China and Mexico – Part Two: The Mexico-US Trade Landscape and Harris’s Potential Vision

China and Walmart, Please, for the Love of ____, Let’s Observe a Silver Lining Partnership in an Otherwise Dismal Global Landscape

The Reform to the Mexico Judicial System

What’s Going on With Section 321 De Minimis Entries?