Export Controls and Sanctions

Managing risks and increasing opportunities in a fast changing regulatory environment

Exporting is a privilege, not a right – and because export controls are rooted in policy and security considerations, exporting comes with significant compliance obligations that are non-negotiable. When managed correctly and proactively, trade compliance can also be an opportunity - a business enabler supporting organizational growth and table stakes for constructive engagement with policy.

National security, economic policy, and trade compliance have never been more intertwined than they are today. Geopolitical issues have come to define trade compliance priorities through regulations and agency expectations.

We’ll help you understand the drivers of the regulations and anticipate what might come next. We’ll help you get your trade compliance program in order so you’re seen as a trusted and credible organization who has earned a seat at the table and can work with policymakers and regulators to help inform the policy dialogue.

Assess
Build
Operate
Meet Compliance Challenges

Assess

Our assessments are tailored to your specific needs and can help you accomplish multiple goals including identifying compliance gaps and opportunities for enhancement.

Gap assessments and “health checks” that look across a company’s trade compliance program or more focused assessments analyzing high risk transactions, specific program areas or readiness for new regulatory requirements
Policy and procedure reviews including drafting procedures, work instructions and compliance manuals
Providing subject matter knowledge for Internal Audit assessments that can run the gamut from designing a workplan to providing co-source to execute an Internal Audit
Merger and acquisition operational due diligence focusing on identifying issues with successor liability implications, developing Day One roadmaps and planning post-close integration activities
Government-directed compliance program audits required by export enforcement actions including Consent Agreements/Settlement Agreements and foreign acquisitions of U.S. assets subject to review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

If you’re undergoing an enforcement action or a divestiture, we’ll do a full assessment of your trade compliance program to identify gaps and recommend actions to solidify your program. We also support internal audit teams, acting as subject matter specialists to design the audit, lead the interviews and perform the testing.

Build

Once you have determined your strategy for creating an effective compliance program, we’ll help you build it out, bringing our experience and understanding of complex regulations to light and serving as a catalyst for you to develop and embed your compliance processes.

We’ll help you design a program that can quickly adapt to regulatory changes by:

Understanding regulations governing jurisdiction and classification of items and technologies
Drafting, reviewing and customizing policies, procedures and workflows
Developing compliance infrastructure and integrating trade functions across business areas
Implementing trade automation solutions for end-to-end compliance throughout the product lifecycle
Optimizing restricted party screening and resolving potential matches for sanctions compliance

Meet Compliance Challenges

While an enforcement action can be difficult, it’s also a time to remediate gaps and create a more effective and efficient trade compliance program. We’ll help you through the process with two key stages:

Corrective action: We’ll conduct the necessary investigations and assessments to help you identify root causes and develop a set of correction actions that will specifically address the enforcement action.
Remediation: Once that has been addressed, we’ll do a thorough remediation to create a long term solution for your organization. We’ll help you take a fresh look at all aspects of your trade compliance program and look at it through the lens of existing regulation and what might be coming in the future.

How we can help

Our clients don’t come to us for a cookie cutter approach. They know that our value comes from meeting our clients where they’re at and moving them forward to something better with novel approaches customized to each client. We can look at trade compliance with an experienced eye to see the nuances of each unique situation that helps us predict where you should focus your integration efforts. We can help you:

Align with government objectives
Reduce potential business disruptions
Anticipate policy changes resulting from geopolitical events and regulatory developments
Integrate trade compliance functions across business areas
Reduce uncertainty, enhance operations, and enable strategic development
Grow in a changing macro-economic landscape

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Contact us

George Prokop

Principal, PwC US

Audit and Assurance services Consulting Tax services Newsroom Alumni US offices Contact us

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