Oxbow Carbon LLC Increases RPS Productivity by 82% with Export On-Demand

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Kelsey Price

Oxbow Carbon LLC needed a solution to help to transport and sell the petroleum products they create into markets where they could be used to produce aluminum, steel, and other critical products for the world economy. Oxbow signed on with for Amber Road’s Export On-Demand solution late last year, and the company has already increased its restricted party screening productivity by 82 percent.

Now, Oxbow is able to centralize and automate its export compliance processes across 90 countries and screen against over 250 lists. Using Amber Road’s hosted technology, Oxbow consolidated 13 ERP systems into one common database portal, creating a simplified and efficient trade compliance process.

“We were looking to improve efficiency and productivity on our old RPS model. We looked at Amber Road’s Export On-Demand solution as a way to achieve those productivity gains and significantly reduce manual effort,” said Louis Lisowski, director of compliance, Oxbow Carbon LLC. “Not only did the software meet our requirements, the implementation phase of the project was 75 percent under the budgeted implementation costs.”

Read more about Oxbow’s use of Amber Road solutions here.

Marianne Rowden Discusses Recent U.S. Regulatory and Legislative Updates

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Sam Scordato

At a recent seminar, Financial Returns of Global Trade, hosted by Amber Road and Sandler & Travis Trade Advisory Services, Inc., Marianne Rowden, President and CEO of the American Association of Exporters and Importers (AAEI), spoke on many of the recent U.S. legislative and regulatory updates. She covered topics including the Customs Re-authorization Bill, Simplified Entry, the effects of sequestration, the Export Control Reform Initiative, the status of mutual recognition agreements, and the Food Safety Modernization Act.

Two areas of particular focus for Rowden were Customs’ Centers of Excellence and Expertise (Centers), along with new C-TPAT proposed rules and their Privacy Act ramifications. These Centers will focus on industry specific trade issues and serve as an information resource for participating importers. By the end of 2013, ten Centers will be operational, including one for apparel, footwear, and textiles in San Francisco and a second for consumer products and mass merchandising in Atlanta.

“One of the goals of the Centers is to enhance enforcement and address industry risks,” explained Rowden, who noted that 40 percent of respondents from their most recent benchmarking survey said they would participate in a Center, and 50 percent said their participation depended on the benefits of joining.

Rowden also commented on two Federal Register notices published on March 13^th, one on a proposed records system for C-TPAT documents, and a second on Privacy Act exemptions to C-TPAT data. She expressed that the proposed records system “is not in the spirit of partnership. C-TPAT data is your proprietary data and the government has to respect the data. They have decided your data is not covered under the Trade Secrets act. The System of Records also violates the Safe Port Act.”

To learn more about these regulatory and legislative updates, please join Amber Road and Sandler & Travis Trade Advisory Services, Inc. at the 92^nd Annual AAEI Conference on Globalization: Policy & Practice.

Q&A from the “Export Control Reform Update: Preparing for Transition” Webinar

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Sam Scordato

Amber Road would like to thank all of those who attended Export Control Reform Update: Preparing for Transition, which was hosted by American Shipper on Tuesday, April 23. We had an amazing turn out, and the attendees asked some great questions. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and were unable to answer all of them. The presenters were kind enough to provide us with written responses to those questions. Here is a sneak peak:

Will Temporary Export Licenses exist under ECR such as we currently have with Dept. of State (DSP-73′s)?

ECR will not impact the issuance of temporary export licenses (DSP-73s) by the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC). With respect to the EAR, BIS does not issue temporary export licenses. Upon the effective date of the initial implementation rule (October 15, 2013), all licenses issued by BIS will have a default validity period of four years, regardless of whether the transaction is a permanent or temporary export. Please note, however, that certain temporary exports, re-exports and transfers (in-country) may qualify for License Exception TMP (§ 740.9) if all relevant terms and conditions are met in §§ 740.2 and 740.9.

When the recently published final rule goes ‘active’ in October, will the revised ‘specially designed’ definition be applicable to the old existing USML/ECCN categories? Or is it only for use on the newly published categories and lists?

Upon the effective date, the definition of “specially designed” will apply to all instances where “specially designed” is used in the Commerce Control List (CCL). Thus, it will apply regardless of whether the item is a 600 series item or not, and regardless of whether the term is used as a control parameter or a decontrol parameter. With respect to the USML, the ITAR definition of “specially designed” will apply to USML Categories VIII and XIX upon the effective date. As subsequent revised USML categories are published in final form and become effective, the term “specially designed” will apply to those additional USML categories as well.

Don’t see the question you asked? Follow this link to see a full list of questions and answers.

Robert Perez Talks Key Custom Initiatives

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Sam Scordato

Robert E. Perez, director, field operations, New York Field Office, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, recently gave an update on key Customs initiatives at a recent retail seminar held in New York City. This retail-focused event, Financial Returns in Global Trade, was hosted by Amber Road and Sandler & Travis Trade Advisory Services, Inc., and discussed the financial benefits that can result from the automation of key compliance processes.

According to Perez, Customs is embracing the idea of combing missions: improving security while lowering costs for the trade community and increasing the ease of interacting with Customs. Key Customs initiatives were borne of this idea, and will equate to a stronger economy.

“We are challenging ourselves to transform,” stated Perez, who enumerated several different underlying principles related to key Customs initiatives: consistency and harmonization, to drive down transaction costs for the community; modernization, by streamlining automation initiatives and developing a more agile development process; and co-creation, with a focus on the broker’s role.

Other principles underlying Customs’ key initiatives are bi-directional education, to make working with Customs more consistent and predictable; comprehensive trusted trader programs, with the harmonization of C-TPAT and ISA; trade intelligence, focusing on educating trusted partners, particularly with trade enforcement and protection; and trade enforcement and revenue collection, by working with other agencies, particularly with managing risk at the border.

Want to learn more about leveraging returns from the automation of trade compliance? Download Amber Road’s white paper, The ROI of Automating Trade Compliance.

Amber Road Honored with Supply & Demand Chain Executive 100 Award

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Colleen Bush

Amber Road is pleased to announce that it received Supply & Demand Chain Executive‘s Top 100 Award for 2013, in partnership with Swedish customer Sandvik Aktiebolag. This is the ninth year Amber Road has been recognized by the publication for its dedication to providing customers with superior global supply chain solutions.

The SDCE 100 spotlights successful and innovative supply chain projects delivering bottom-line value to small, medium and large enterprises. The transformative projects featured in this awards program can serve as a roadmap for driving operational improvements.

Amber Road submitted for the award in partnership with Sandvik Aktiebolag, a Swedish customer specializing in high-technology engineering. Sandvik’s successful implementation of Amber Road’s Export On-Demand solution helped the company mitigate their trading risk on a global scale, while improving the quality and reliability of its export controls.

Click here to read the entire press release.