Rock Trade Law is pleased to announce an expansion of our duty drawback services. The consulting firm, Kennard & Associates, will join our existing personnel to offer expanded duty drawback capabilities effective August 1, 2020. Rock Trade Law will also expand its portfolio of services to include vessel repair entry filings.
Duty drawback is the refund of duties and certain taxes paid when imported merchandise is later re-exported or destroyed. This refund may be based on the imported merchandise being used in the manufacture of a finished good or after the items are exported or destroyed after going unused. Duty drawback has received significant recent attention as Section 301 (China) tariffs are eligible for drawback recoveries and significant changes have been made to the regulatory framework for this program.
Vessel repair transactions involve entry filings applicable to commercial vessel operators required to declare and report foreign repairs made to U.S. flag vessels. These repairs are subject to a potential duty rate of 50% of the cost of the repairs. Entry services include the analysis and documentation of all available opportunities for duty mitigation in order to ensure accurate submissions on behalf of the vessel operator.
Over the past 20 years, Robert (Bob) Kennard developed his own successful customs consulting firm offering duty drawback and vessel repair entry services. Prior to developing his own practice, Bob led the Southern California International Trade Practice for Deloitte & Touche LLP. We welcome him to the firm and look forward to further collaboration to offer these complex entry services.
In addition to Kennard & Associates, Rock Trade Law is also pleased to announce the addition of the following professional staff to the firm:
Uyen Tran - Trade Analyst
Uyen has over 25 years of trade experience and is a Licensed Customs Broker. Prior to joining the firm, she was the Customs Compliance Manager at Walgreens responsible for maintaining the company's Importer Self-Assessment (ISA) program and compliance oversight of: tariff classification, antidumping and countervailing duties, refund recoveries, ruling requests, broker management, and compliance auditing.
Serhiy (Serj) Kiyasov - Law Clerk
Serj provides assistance with advising clients on valuation and classification of various imported products, application of various free trade agreements, dutiability of royalty payments, manifest confidentiality requests, and restricted party screenings. Serj is a native Ukrainian and Russian speaker. Serj’s language skills assist to resolve complex matters focused at present on international sanctions work.
Serj attended DePaul University College of Law at Chicago, IL. While at DePaul, he was a Co-President of the Business Law Society and received a CALI Excellence for The Future Award in the study of U.S. Customs and International Trade Law.
Rachel Wilson - Law Clerk
Rachel attends DePaul University College of Law where she is pursuing a certificate in International and Comparative Law. At DePaul Rachel has received Dean’s List honors and is a member of the DePaul Law Review. In her spare time, she is also an active committee member for various committees of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois and serves as the DePaul Women’s Bar Association Vice President. Rachel currently conducts legal research on various U.S. Customs and international trade matters for the Rock Trade Law team of attorneys.
Julian Newman - Trade Analyst
Julian majored in English and Russian at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and studied abroad in St. Petersburg, Russia and Almaty, Kazakhstan. He previously worked as a Russian language analyst at a sanctions-focused consulting company. Julian currently assists with international sanctions work and compliance program oversight for various clients.
Should you have any questions concerning these developments, please contact one of the trade professionals listed here.