Legal Question in Business Law in Washington

This is a hard question to answer without knowing more about you and your business plan. Are you either an FMC licensed freight forwarder or a licensed customs broker? Is your target client the cargo owner (an importer or exporter) or a service provider (such as an NVOCC)? Are you concerning yourself with compliance with laws worldwide, or just U.S. law?

If you are neither a freight forwarder nor a customs broker, please be cautious that your business plan does not edge you into those areas where you need one of those licenses. Assuming you are up to speed on that question, I would recommend the Customs and Border Protection website www.cbp.gov as a starting point. That will link you eventually to all key U.S. law. For compliance requirements elsewhere, BNA (the Bureau of National Affairs; a private organization in spite of its name) publishes an exporters guide in three ring binders that is updated weekly. It is not cheap. I have not purchased one in many years, so I cannot tell you how much.

This is an area of special interest to me. If you would like further input that I would be able to provide once I know more about your business model, please feel free to contact me directly.