Important Legislation, International Conventions, Acronyms, And Legal Actions In Importing And Exporting Goods Essay.

1. List one example of domestic legislation that is important to be aware of when importing and exporting goods. Briefly describe the purpose of this legislation

2. List one example of an international convention relating to the importing and exporting of goods. Briefly describe the purpose of this international convention.

3. Write down the full names for the following acronyms relating to international banking.

4. Write down the full names for the following acronyms relating to international organisations, bodies and legislations.

5. Can an overseas trader who is buying your exports take any legal action against you if you fail to comply with an INCOTERM that you have not agreed on in the contract between yourselves? Why or why not?

Example of Domestic Legislation and Its Purpose

Legislation on the Tagging and Marking on parcels and goods. According to Dainelli et al., (2008) legislation regarding the tagging and marking of the packages and good is a very important law that must be followed since tagging and marking provide very important information about the product to the consumer. This law also specifies the language to be used when labeling the products and parcels. By using a language that is not known to the consumer, one cannot successfully market his product. When labelling the products to be exported, one must ensure that he goes by other laws such as the competition and user act whereby one forbidden from giving deceptive and misleading information, (Dainelli et al., 2008). Such information includes the use of the product, how to use and the ingredients. 

Reference

Dainelli, D., Gontard, N., Spyropoulos, D., Zondervan-van den Beuken, E., & Tobback, P. (2008). Active and intelligent food packaging: legal aspects and safety concerns. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 19, S103-S112.

International convention concerning the export and import of animal products (other than meat, meat preparations, Fresh animal products, milk and milk products.) This convention was majorly called to address the prevalence of diseases in animals and hence the need to curb its spread because of the export and import of the animals’ products in question such as hides, horns, bones, and wool among others. The diseases in question included foot and mouth disease, cattle plaque and sheep pox among others. The parties involved were required to go as per the laid down rules so that the spreading of those diseases could be curbed. The regulation reached upon in this convention included prohibiting the importation of the said products from a country experiencing any of the mentioned diseases.

UCP- Uniform Customs and Practice.

URC- Uniform Rules for Collections.

URR- The Uniform Rules for Bank-to-Bank Reimbursements.

GATT- General Agreement on Tariffsand Trade

IATA- International Air Transport Association

ILO- International Labor Organization

OECD- Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

WTO- World Trade Organization.

UNCITRAL- United National Commission on International Trade Law.

ICJ- International Court of Justice

NAFTA- North American Free Trade Agreement.

Example of International Convention and Its Purpose

OPEC- Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

EU- European Union

ICC- International Criminal Court.

The trader cannot take any legal action against the Exporter. This is because incoterms are not laws, but rather contractual standard constraints that can only be mutually binding in the case where the two parties, (Exporter and Importer) have agreed on, (Bergami, 2012). Incoterms are of great importance to the parties involved since they help the individuals to be able to know the extent to which they will be responsible for costs in case of any losses. As opposed to the law, they can only be of use when the parties agreed on by the parties involved, (Bergami, 2012).

Reference

Bergami, R. (2012). Incoterms 2010: The newest revision of delivery terms. Acta Universitatis Bohemiae Meridionales, 15(2), 33-40.

According to Arrowsmith, (2004) participating in UNCITRAL does not weaken the country’s sovereign legal system just by the mere fact of being a member. Even though the organization is geared towards regulating the restrictions imposed by member countries on international trade, the adoption of such laws are largely depended on the country’s legal system, (Arrowsmith, 2004). In this sense, it shows that it is the country itself to either decide to adopt the laws or not. Lastly, the pronouncements of the commission are entirely made based on consensus, and hence the member countries are usually represented in the decision-making process, (Arrowsmith, 2004).

Reference

Arrowsmith, S. (2004). Public Procurement: An Appraisal of the UNCITRAL Model Law as a Global Standard. The International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 53(1), 17.

• Currencies- These are means for trading value to be defined concerning the different geographical location by the authorities governing the regions.

Exchange rate- This is the sum of one currency required to buy alternative currency.

Foreign exchange balances- is the percentage limit given to credit institutions to avoid foreign exchange risk.

The factors that determine exchange rates- These are the factors that the amount of one currency required to buy another. The factors are interest rates, political stability government debt, inflation rates, terms of trade, and speculation, performance, recession.

The three type of foreign exchange transactions include spot, forward outright and option.

1. Spot- This is the quickest foreign exchange transaction. It takes two days after the trade has been agreed apart from a transaction between the American dollar and the Canadian dollar.
2. Forward Outright – This is a transaction in which the deal is settled today, but payment is to be made on an agreed date without advantaging the seller nor the buyer.
3. Option-Here, the deal is settled but payment is to be done later and in any case, the rates changes are in favor of the company, the company benefits.
   • Treaties- Treaties are agreements between countries that are written and signed. They can exist between two countries or more than two countries.

Custom- This is the belief system of a country. Customs are mutually binding. Customs differ from one country to another.

Acronyms Related to International Banking

General Principles of Law- These are the general beliefs of what is wrong and right in the in all the civilized nations. As opposed to customs, general principles of law are based on the universal beliefs.

Judicial decisions and legal scholarship- This refers to the laws that have gained international acceptance as adopted by the international court of justice.

• Laws are a set of rules that are supposed to be strictly followed, and punishment is defined for those who go against such laws. On the other hand, international conventions are morals codes of conduct agreed upon by various nations for their well being and the breach of the conventions can only be punished by political pressure such as sanctions. However, conventions can be made laws by going through the legal system. Also, laws are systematic, formal and interrelated as opposed to conventions which are informal and independent. Conventions are independent in the sense that they can happen at any time and are not related with the earlier passed conventions.

2. • Self-examination. This involves searching by yourself to find out the required skills for your job after examination one should engender gaps and analysis with the manager (Radermacher et al., 2014). By looking at the requisite level of skills in ones current or dream job, one can be able to identify the gaps in the skills.

By asking the people around one can also be able to identify the skills he/ she is lacking. This can be done successfully only when one identifies the right people to ask questions, (Radermacher et al., 2014).

Lastly, one can attempt a written test that can be obtained from the internet or the organization and having someone else such as the manager to assess the test, (Radermacher et al., 2014). 

Reference

Radermacher, A., Walia, G., & Knudson, D. (2014). Investigating the skill gap between graduating students and industry expectations. In Companion Proceedings of the 36th international conference on software engineering (pp. 291-300). ACM. 

• Prioritize gaps and develop an action plan. To fully solve the skill gap realized, one should state the gaps on a priority list based on the demand for the skill. After creating a priority list, there is need to identify the way out the filling the skill gaps identified, (Radermacher et al., 2014).

Monitor the plan- After developing the action plan one must ensure that the plan is mastered to ensure progress.

Continuous assessment. One must ensure that periodic assessments are carried out to ensure that the progress is taking place in the process of filling the skill and knowledge gaps.

• By listening and watching the news on business issues. In this changing world, news can be easily accessed by either listening to the radio and or watching television. By listening to the daily business news, one cannot miss out important updates on changes as it concerns a change in the laws and conventions.

Befriending and following important personalities and news programs on social media. By following broadcasting stations on social media, one can be able to access the highlights of news easily and hence able to be up-to-date with current changes in international laws and conventions.

Making friends with individuals the field of international trade. By doing this one can be able to obtain the updates through such as people who have experience in the profession.

By networking. This involves meeting with other individuals in the field in platforms such as conventions and workshops.

Through the internet. One can be able to acquire all the information as it pertains international trade by searching the internet on relevant platforms such as business forums.

• Business forums on the internet

Twitter. This can be done by following prominent people in this field and government officials. In case of any changes, one can be able to obtain the information through reading the notifications posted by these individuals.

Acronyms Related to International Organizations, Bodies, and Legislations

Facebook. Facebook is a very good platform for garnering information by joining groups and pages related to international trade.

Public and national libraries. Public and national libraries provide a great amount of resources for individuals ranging from magazines to very expensive books and internet services. By visiting the library, one can be able to access any information required. 

Resource persons. This includes individuals who are working in this field such as Custom clearance officers.

• The market for the goods. In the report, I have analyzed the availability of a market for the goods to be either imported or exported. In case of an import, it will be of no use to import a product that has no consumer and hence a grave loss.

Legal restrictions on importing the goods. One should look at the legality of importing the said goods before the import since some goods are prohibited in Australia but used in other countries.

Cost of importation or exportation. This helps one to gauge whether he will be able to import the luggage or not.

Risk of exporting or importing.

Tariffs.

Discussion, recommendation, and conclusion

• One of the cheapest and easily accessible source of knowledge is the internet. Through the internet, one can is able to search and learn more information on any given subject.

Becoming an intern. One important way of gaining experience is enrolling for an internship in the field. By doing this one can gain lacking skills and knowledge hence filling the skill and knowledge gap.

Enroll for a course. By enrolling for a course offering a specific skill, I will be able to gain fill the gap in my skills. Short-term courses are easily available and relatively cheaper hence easily hence they are very handy in helping an individual fill a skill gap.

• Reading and writing. This is a learning type whereby the learner is taught using note taking and personal studies. As opposed to lecture method where the learner is passive, this method, actively involves the student taught. This type of learning is very important, especially when dealing with important and voluminous information involved in this course. By using this type of learning, I will be able to refer to my notes where there is a necessity for doing so. Also, by reading, I will be able to understand and memorize the laws and conventions that are of importance to my field of study.
• Helps in the smooth-running of the activities of the of the organization. Policies and procedures are key in making decisions since they give direction on what to do and how to do anything at any given moment.  It also helps in avoiding confusion and chaos in the organization. When the staff is informed of the policies by which they are to operate, the working condition will be improved since the environment will be termed a safe place to work from since accidents and happenings will be highly avoided.

One of the sources of the organizations’ policies and procedures is the organizations’ website. The major source is the institution's constitution. 

Sustainability is the ability to meet the demands and the quality requirement in the present without affecting the future generations. Amcor is termed to be sustainable in packaging due to its sole goal of using the resources available sparingly and in a way that the future generation is not compromised, (Verghese, Lewis & Fitzpatrick, 2012). The major points of sustainability that Amcor employs include:

• Environmental sustainability. This involves the use of environmental resources to the level it is available.
• Economic sustainability. This is the ability of an organization to use resources responsibly.
• Social sustainability. This is the ability of a company to develop and maintain a good reputation with the society it serves.

The table below shows a comparison of the various options available for packaging beverages.

In case there is a need for the advice of a specialist, there are two major sources where one can be able to obtain specialist advice, (Spivey, 2014). The major source from the government specialists. This is a very credible and cheap source of advice to the client. Through the government specialist, one can obtain advice at a relatively low cost. According to Spivey, (2014), government officials offer credible information and are more reliable as compared to any other source of advice. Government specialists are also well versed in the regulations that are to be followed in packaging as compared to other specialists. An alternative source of advice is from the private sector whereby one must pay before advice is offered. To identify the location of these private specialists, one can easily do so by searching the internet. The other advantage of the internet is that one can be able to access online help from the private specialist without necessarily going to their physical location. This is especially advantageous since one can be able to access advice at his or her convenience, (Spivey, 2014).

Reference

Verghese, K., Lewis, H., & Fitzpatrick, L. (Eds.). (2012). Packaging for sustainability. Springer Science & Business Media.

Spivey Sr, R. R. (2014). U.S. Patent No. 8,701,878. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.