Trade Show Issues

Location

  The location of the show is important to know so your compliance professional can better determine what sort of clearances need to be done. For instance, if your organization is attending a U.S. Government sponsored show the controls over who attends will likely be better than a show held in France or Malaysia.

You must ensure that all prior approvals and authorizations are in place prior to attending. In addition to U.S. Export and Import regulations, you will have to consider the foreign country the show is being held in regulatory environment as well. For instance, the United Kingdom requires organizations register with their export compliance branches and obtain licenses to import items into their country.

Other countries may have even more difficult to obtain authorization processes and it may take quite some time to obtain them. In addition, it is rare for any one person to be an expert in all foreign countries regulations, so it may take some time for your compliance professional to determine what the requirements of the host nation will be.

Timing is everything, if you do not plan ahead, you may waste thousands of dollars by missing the show or not being able to display your booth as you would like. The ITAR does have some exemptions to assist companies in attending foreign trade shows; however, it requires previous licenses to have been approved - and be current to attempt to use the exemption — it is best to simply have all planning done in advance as possible.