World events in the past two years – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the evolving US policy towards China being the most high profile – have brought a clear and rapid response from governments in their trade policy, procedures and controls. In addition, efforts to protect national security and human rights through tougher export and import controls have brought more and complex regulation to trade compliance teams to navigate.

In this session, members of the Global Export Controls & Sanctions team at KPMG will assess the raft of regulatory measures and pressures – UN sanctions, US sanctions, EU restrictive measures, export controls on tech, to name but a few – which demand the attention of Trade Compliance teams today, and will consider the best and most efficient ways in which to navigate the regulatory storm to the shores of successful compliance.

The global economy has a global workforce. Companies are recruiting talent from across the world, and some of the best recruits will come from other countries. US export control laws and regulations can and do say who should and should not have access to controlled items, technology and facilities, but rejecting someone from a job solely on the basis of their citizenship or nationality can be considered illegal discrimination under US law. Recent enforcement actions highlight the risks companies may encounter in navigating these laws.

In this timely session, attorneys Jahna Hartwig (Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati) and Lizbeth Rodriguez-Johnson (Reed Smith) discuss the legal issues that can set a company’s recruitment efforts on the road to discriminating against individuals based on their citizenship or nationality, and consider the measures you can take to balance employment rights with trade compliance requirements in order to avoid the reputational damage, fines and penalties that can arise when you neglect one or the other.

You’d rather it went away… but it just won’t. The message from the DOJ and other regulators is clear: Disclosing a sanctions or export control violation more than makes sense. BIS has said that its Office of Export Enforcement will consider the deliberate non-disclosure of a significant possible export control violation to be an aggravating factor that may trigger “sharply increased” penalties.

In this session, Don Pearce, retired BIS Special Agent and founder of specialist trade consultancy Sentinel LLC, will share his insights on the best way forward when evidence of an export control/sanctions violation comes to light. It’s a time for clear thinking and good practice, all clearly recorded for later reference.

Understanding and implementing a good course of action will be key. For, as Don says, “The decisions made at the point of discovery can mean the difference between a hefty fine and a sternly worded warning letter.”

One result of increased government action in looking to control exports – what and to whom – more tightly has brought a need for many organizations to review international supply chains. For many, this had been necessary under Covid as many suppliers creaked to deliver or simply disappeared. Today, it is conflict and national security measures which are the drivers of change.

In their presentation experts from the Global Export Controls & Sanctions at KPMG team consider how to measure the robustness and resilience of your domestic and international supply chains, the red flags that will alert you to potential weak spots, the particular regulatory pressures for doing so – and how, having decided to make a change, the steps you can take to put in place a new supply chain in compliant confidence.

Many companies already have mature Anti-Bribery / Anti-Corruption (ABAC) compliance programs, procurement analytics, and logistics operations. This presents an excellent opportunity for the Export and Sanctions team to leverage other business departments within the company to push Trade Compliance due diligence and Know Your Customer requirements, creating a holistic view of Corporate Third-Party Risk and shared risk analysis.

1. Identify unique risks associated with the organization’s use of third parties;

2. Define policies, procedures, and responsibilities for monitoring and assessing third parties;

3. Leverage and manage third party data collected by non-Trade business groups for analysis; and

4. Create a screening methodology – i.e. onboarding, transaction based, or ongoing.

In this session, Ron Comers and Morial Shah from the National Security, Trade, and Technology team at Ankura Consulting present the essential planks of the screening program appropriate for your organization today, how to take a whole-of-business approach to risk analysis and mitigation.

Most US export companies are familiar with the idea that controls exist on what they and their colleagues can send abroad, take abroad and electronically transfer abroad and they have procedures in place to ensure compliance with those controls. But sometimes things happen that are difficult to prepare for – a display model at a trade fair disappears in transit; the vessel carrying an export-controlled item is forced to dock for repairs in a country identified as higher risk for circumvention of sanctions; the CEO forgot they had plans for the new semi-conductor on their laptop when they jumped on the plane for that luxury honeymoon in South America.

In this session, trade specialists Jeremy Page and Shannon Fura of Chicago firm Page Fura, look at some of those disasters waiting to happen and consider the best responses in difficult circumstances. Against the background of US extra-territorial reach, as highlighted in the recent Tri Seal Compliance Note, this is a do-not-miss for manufacturers of controlled items from all over the world.

In recent years, government and regulatory authorities in the US and overseas have promoted a “risk-based” approach to compliance for exporters. But what does this mean and how do you go about analyzing, tracking, and communicating that risk throughout your organization?

From their deep expertise and background in the defense and technology industries, Michelle Andersen and Tracy Gronewold from the National Security, Trade, and Technology team at Ankura Consulting will consider the key steps to take to:

1. Identify trade compliance risks from a regulatory and a business perspective

2. Assess the organization’s appetite for that risk

3. Track and communicate risk to senior and executive leadership

4. Use risk to build a business case to optimize resources accounting for business operations and financial constraints

This is a must-participate session for all Trade Compliance professionals dealing with ever-changing controls.

An effective training program is an integral component of a successful Compliance Program. So say OFAC, BIS, the EU and pretty much every regulator out there (to the point that evidence of an organization’s commitment to training can mitigate penalties for violation of trade controls). BIS notes that a good training program:

• Provides job-specific knowledge based on need
• Communicates the export responsibilities for each employee
• Holds employees accountable for export training through assessments

Keeping compliance training successful – fresh, effective and valued (often against a background of budgetary pressures) – throughout the organization is a key challenge for Export Compliance managers and tapping into current best practise and tech solutions may prove a good first step.

In this session, Lila Landis, Chief Compliance Officer at SEKO Logistics, shares latest thinking and best practices on training options, keeping content fresh, and utilizing technology to make training easier to implement and more engaging within the Trade team and beyond.

Where should Trade Compliance sit (figuratively and physically) in an organization? What will be its full remit? What skills are needed? How big should the team be? Who should it report to? What departments should it be close to/work closely with? Do the answers differ for overseas offices?

The answers to these questions – and more like them! – go to the heart of a Trade Compliance strategy and will impact an organization’s cross-departmental management efforts as well as its wider strategic ambitions. So it’s important to get them right.

In this session, Gabrielle Griffiths of trade consultants BPE Global and Tracy Somora, Sr. Global Trade Manager at Arthrex Inc will share their experiences of finding the best (most appropriate) people structures and organizational positioning for the Trade Compliance team. Warning: there’s no one size fits all!

Trade teams are hiring. For trade compliance professionals starting a new role, the first 30 days are key. First impressions count, so, while meeting new colleagues – in and beyond the immediate team – and getting a good picture of the organization’s business and an introduction to the ICP are all important, there is much more to be done in order to guarantee success in the role.

In this session, Matt Silverman, Global Trade Director and Senior Counsel at VIAVI Solutions, and Dale Blankenship, Director and Sr. Counsel – Global Trade Compliance at Flowserve, suggest a timetable of ‘must-do’ actions to help you hit the ground running and build the foundations of success – yours and the compliance team’s.

This will be a useful session for any Trade Compliance professional entering a new position and also for those already in place who would welcome some suggestions on how to refresh their role for the benefit of both themselves and their organization’s compliance performance.