Trade Fraud Task Force Publishes Customs Trade Enforcement Compliance Guide
In-house counsel and compliance teams overseeing U.S. customs and international trade operations must review the new guide, as it codifies the enforcement benchmarks the Trade Fraud Task Force will use to evaluate compliance programs and identify potential violations.
The interagency Trade Fraud Task Force has published a formal enforcement resource guide outlining its investigation priorities, protocols, and compliance expectations for entities subject to U.S. customs and trade laws. The guide consolidates existing enforcement authorities and signals the Task Force will use these outlined benchmarks as a standard when auditing trade compliance programs, assessing voluntary disclosures, and pursuing enforcement actions for common violations including misclassification, incorrect valuation, and origin fraud. In-house counsel should conduct a gap analysis of their organization’s current trade compliance practices against the guide’s requirements, update internal policies and training to align with the new expectations, and ensure their teams are prepared to respond to Task Force inquiries consistent with the outlined framework.