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Not Knowing What You Don't Know

3/21/2014

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It's not news that importers and exporters without dedicated personnel for trade compliance responsibilities can find themselves in a jam when they discover some aspect of the regulations with which they were unaware.  What is interesting about the following example is the degree to which the public got to weigh in as a result of the importer posting about the situation on the company blog.

The issue in this example is an International Trade Commission (ITC) exclusion order for Digital Multimeters (for background, a multimeter is an electronic measuring instrument with basic features such as the ability to measure voltage, current, and resistance).  The importer, Sparkfun Electronics, had been importing the multimeters for years without a problem, and the exclusion order had been in effect for many years as well. What they "didn't know wasn't hurting them" as long as they did not have an inspection that included a Customs officer who was familiar with the exclusion order.

You may have to be a real compliance geek to read through all of the comments in the blog posting, https://www.sparkfun.com/news/1428, but I'll point out a couple of things to pique your interest.

Included in the post is an image of the notice from Customs notifying Sparkfun of the violation and their options on what to do with the product.
There is also a link to the actual exclusion order which is very instructive itself on how exclusion orders come about and what they can cover.
From a somewhat humorous perspective, there is a link to a different blog post by a gentleman named Steve Schwartz who waxes eloquent on the "Three types of Knowledge", that is, Sh** You Know, Sh** You Know You Don't Know, and Sh** You Don't Know You Don't Know.

Probably the most salient parts of the discussion relate to the fairness of exclusion orders to small businesses, the problems associated with our current Patent system and the validity of what patents are issued for, and the disposal options for an importer when one of their shipments is deemed to fall within the scope of an exclusion order.

Bottom line, if you are an importer with even a hint that the products you import can fall under a patent held by someone else, you may want to research  ITC records to see if there are any active exclusion orders.



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