Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Definition of

This is a difficult question to answer, and while there may be some attorney out there who has researched the issue and really knows, I would treat any reply you get on LawGuru with a little suspicion, including mine.

First, on its face, I would think the receipt of goods from a foreign country constitutes engaging in interstate commerce, since foreign commerce is usually considered "interstate" in nature despite the frequent use of the more expansive term "interstate and foreign commerce."

However, the expression you cite, which appears in certain federal criminal statutes, does not seem to encompass ALL interstate commerce, but merely the introduction into interstate commerce (and thus not the receiving of shipments).

Based on this, I would say the phrase does not include the mere importation you describe.

However, there is an argument, and perhaps some case law, that what you describe IS included in the term. See, for example, the decision of the United States Supreme Court in U.S. v. Walsh (about 1947) at 331 U.S. 432.

So, I think you have a decent argument that the law containing that phrase shouldn't cover what you did, but it's certainly not anywhere near foolproof and whoever represents you will need to do a lot more research that I can do now.