If you've been importing goods into the United States for any length of time, you've probably developed a working relationship with your customs broker, a sense of how long clearance typically takes, and a general comfort level with the process. What a lot of experienced importers don't have is a comprehensive trade compliance program — one that's documented, defensible, and designed to withstand CBP scrutiny.

That gap is where enforcement actions happen.

Trade compliance isn't a box you check once and forget. It's an active, ongoing function that needs to keep pace with changes in tariff policy, CBP enforcement priorities, trade agreements, and the specific regulatory requirements that apply to your products. For businesses that are scaling their import operations, exploring new sourcing markets, or operating in industries that attract heightened CBP attention, the stakes of getting this wrong are significant.

A US customs lawyer isn't just someone you call when something goes wrong. The most valuable work happens before anything goes wrong.

What Trade Compliance Actually Covers

When people talk about customs compliance, they're often thinking narrowly — making sure the paperwork is in order when a shipment arrives. That's part of it. But a complete compliance program covers a much broader scope.

Classification and valuation accuracy

Every product you import needs to be assigned the correct HTS classification and declared at the correct customs value. Both are areas where errors are common and audits are possible. Classification errors can result in underpayment of duties; valuation errors — particularly undervaluation, which CBP treats seriously — can result in fraud findings that carry criminal exposure in extreme cases.

Country of origin determination and documentation

With trade remedy tariffs still in place on goods from China and various other countries, country of origin determination has never mattered more. CBP has significantly increased its scrutiny of transshipment — the practice of routing goods through a third country to obscure their true origin. Having robust documentation of where your goods are actually manufactured, and evidence of the substantial transformation that qualifies them for the claimed origin, is no longer optional for companies importing from complex global supply chains.

Export control compliance

Import-focused companies sometimes overlook the export side, but U.S. export law — administered primarily through the Export Administration Regulations and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations — applies to a wide range of goods, software, and technology. The penalties for export control violations are severe, and ignorance of the requirements is not a defense. A customs attorney can help you determine whether your products are subject to licensing requirements and build the compliance infrastructure to manage them.

Recordkeeping and audit readiness

CBP requires importers to maintain records sufficient to reconstruct any entry for five years. What constitutes "sufficient" records is more specific than most importers realize. In an audit, you want to be able to produce not just the commercial invoice and packing list, but the underlying documentation that supports your classification decisions, valuation methodology, and country of origin determinations.

How CBP Enforcement Has Shifted

The enforcement environment has gotten noticeably more aggressive in recent years, driven by a combination of factors: increased trade remedy tariff collections, political focus on supply chain integrity, and the agency's investment in data analytics that makes it far easier for CBP to identify statistical anomalies in an importer's entry data.

This means that importers who were flying under the radar five years ago are more likely to attract attention today. CBP's Regulatory Audit and Agency Advisory Services division conducts focused assessment audits — in-depth reviews of an importer's compliance program — and quick response audits triggered by specific concerns. The importer's response to a CBP audit request sets the tone for everything that follows, which is why having a customs law firm on standby before an audit notice arrives is far better than scrambling to find one after.

The Specific Risk of Unrepresented Importers

A common pattern in customs enforcement goes like this: an importer receives a CF-28 (Request for Information) or CF-29 (Notice of Action) from CBP. Not sure what it means, they provide the requested information without legal review. CBP uses that information to expand the scope of its inquiry. What started as a question about a single shipment becomes a multi-year audit with significant duty and penalty exposure.

An importer who responds to a CBP inquiry through counsel — even at the initial CF-28 stage — controls the narrative far more effectively. The response is structured to address what's being asked without volunteering information that invites further scrutiny. The attorney-client privilege protects the internal communications that led to the response. And the importer knows, from the start, what their actual exposure is and what the most favorable realistic outcome looks like.

Stein Shostak Shostak Pollack & O'Hara, LLP has represented importers in CBP audits, penalty proceedings, and administrative hearings for decades. The firm's attorneys have developed genuine relationships of professional respect with CBP officials — which matters in negotiations and makes a real difference in outcomes.

Building a Compliance Program That Holds

For importers who want to get ahead of their exposure rather than react to it, Stein Shostak offers the kind of proactive legal support that actually prevents problems.

That means conducting classification and valuation reviews of active import programs, identifying and correcting errors before CBP does, obtaining binding rulings where certainty is especially valuable, reviewing country of origin documentation for supply chains that have shifted, and building the recordkeeping infrastructure that makes an audit a manageable event rather than a crisis.

It also means having counsel who can advise on free trade agreement eligibility — one of the most commonly overlooked sources of legitimate duty savings. Many importers are paying full duty rates on goods that would qualify for preferential treatment under USMCA, KORUS, or other agreements if the documentation were properly structured.

A Firm With the Experience to Make a Difference

Stein Shostak Shostak Pollack & O'Hara, LLP has operated at the intersection of customs law and international trade since 1933. That's not a marketing claim — it's institutional depth that shows in the quality of the advice, the relationships with CBP, and the firm's track record in court. Few firms in the country can match the combination of administrative advocacy experience and genuine litigation capability that Stein Shostak brings.

For importers and exporters navigating a trade environment that has become genuinely more complicated, having a US customs lawyer who understands both the technical landscape and the enforcement dynamics is not a luxury. It's a business necessity.

Ready to build a compliance program that actually protects your business? Contact Stein Shostak Shostak Pollack & O'Hara, LLP at (213) 630-8888 or visit steinshostak.com to schedule a consultation with a US customs lawyer who has seen it all and knows how to keep your import operations on solid ground.